Embezzlement during employment 3

Embezzlement during employment 3

Not long ago, one of our clients asked us to advise on a matter of quite some importance to his business. Wallets were disappearing from his employees’ changing room repeatedly. These thefts obviously caused stress on the work floor. Employees could not look one another in the eye which created an uneasy atmosphere.

Although stealing from the boss is often trivialized, it certainly is ‘not done’ to ‘steal from your co-workers’. You can see how employers will always hold a special position in the views of many employees.

During the introduction we were soon aware that the changing room was indeed used as a changing room. For us as investigators this is crucial information, since we absolutely do not wish to practice inadmissible methods of investigation in relation to the law of criminal procedure and privacy regulations. Since we do not like to give our clients no for an answer, we decided to prepare one of the wallets with so-called anti-theft powder.

We will spare you the precise details of the proceedings for investigative tactical reasons. At one point however, our client contacted one of our consultants and informed him that one of his employees had ‘glowing hands’. No matter what he did, wash them, rub them on the floor tiles, his wavering hands remained bright red. Enough grounds to question the ’chameleon’ , who immediately confessed to the crimes he was suspected of. After he handed over ‘our’ wallet, we helped him get rid of his stained hands. We will not bore you with the details of how we did that.

We could not help the employee get rid of his flushed cheeks though, which had appeared spontaneously during the course of our intensive interview. Meanwhile, the employee has repaid his co-workers via his last salary payment. He suggested leaving the company, in order to avoid further confrontation with his colleagues. Since we are reasonable people, we advised him to take the back exit.