Tweet

Quick Tips To Prosecuting an Employee for Theft

Guest post by: J. Patrick Murphy

Article Overview: Employee theft happens in all businesses. How an employer moves forward with the prosecution of an employee found stealing from the company may not be well understood. Here are some quick tips on the prosecution process.

Quick Tips To Prosecuting an Employee for Theft

Employee theft is pervasive across the spectrum of business and corporations in this country. Unfortunately detecting the theft activity can be difficult as the offending employee has multiple schemes working at the same time. Employees under investigation often see unusual activity from accounting, meetings with supervisors, and even files moved from their usual place as signs their activity has been detected. Finally catching the employee is a long way from prosecuting them. The theft interview questions are critical for an optimal outcome.

Here are some quick tips regarding prosecuting employee acts from fraud and embezzlement to the theft of gas for a personal car through a company credit card.

First there are three basic approaches to employee investigations:

1. Work through the investigation internally to compile the evidence.

2. Hire an outside investigator with the skills to properly develop a criminal case

3. Contact local law enforcement and allow them to fully investigate the crime.

With each of those there are positives and negatives but there is one constant: prosecuting an employee for theft or other malfeasance takes the same route. For the sake of this discussion, it is assumed that the employee has already been terminated.

1. All criminal cases to be considered for employee prosecution must enter the criminal justice system through law enforcement. If the investigation was conducted internally, ensure that all evidence is available for police. Keep in mind that a patrol officer will most probably take only the basic facts. The case will later be assigned to an investigative unit. In short, initiating prosecution is no different for internal theft than the police catching someone in the act of burglarizing a home.

2. At some point an investigator or detective will contact the company in order to obtain the full background of the case and to obtain any documentation, statements or other evidence. They may also attempt to have the employee come to their office to discuss the allegations but those meetings rarely ever take place.

3. Once the Detective has completed their investigation the case is brought to a Magistrate, a District Attorney's office, or some other local prosecuting party. The decision to actually proceed with prosecution rests with these agencies. This is where the concise investigation by the employer is so very important. There may be areas of the case that are worrisome for a prosecutor or the evidence just does not support all allegations. Here's an example: Your employee works in a machine shop and it is discovered that two welding machines had been ordered but cannot be located. The initial investigation clearly points to the employee but you have not located the machines and the employee simply says: I don't know what you are talking about". That would be a difficult case to prosecute given the narrow set of circumstances. The Prosecutor ultimately may agree that the chances of conviction are poor and simply decide to not pursue it further.

4. If the case goes into the court system there are numerous ways a case can be adjudicated (resolved) including probation, probation with restitution, a sentence of jail time but with credit for time served and no restitution or fine or not guilty. The key underlying point that needs to be understood: prosecution is always an option that should be explored. The outcome may not always be as envisioned by the employer. Consult with your company legal team before proceeding with any prosecutions.

Related Articles
  Car Insurance - Fire and Theft Coverage
  Retail Loss Growing Problem
  Didn’t I park my car here?
  Crime Insurance - Why the threat is real
  Zero Gravity Business: LifeLock
  How to Deal With Content Theft Using the Least Amount of Effort
  ID Theft - Fastest growing financial crime in America
  Video surveillance successfully used to prove theft and justify termination
  Calculate the Cost of Shoplifting and Employee Theft
  Reducing the Employee Theft Epidemic
  How Thieves Physically Steal Your Data!
  Companies should establish clear policies for social networking sites
  The Deal Really Could Be A Steal
  An Identity Theft Call Center - A Necessity In Today's Information Age
  Identity Theft Targets Children
  How To Fire An Employee: The Do's and Don'ts of Terminating Employees to Keep You Out of Hot Water
  Tips for Preventing Issues with Employees Using Social Media at Work
  “Strategic Business Tips When Firing Someone From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach”
  Top 10 Ways to Avoid Identity Theft
  Here is a Method For Managing Your Friends In The Workplace - Follow these 7 Simple Tips

Article Tags: embezzlement, employee prosecution, employee theft, investigations, security, theft



Related Forum Posts
Business Tips - How about: Tips for managers to handle employees more effectively? Tips on how to deal with difficult customers? Tips on how to deal more effectively with suppliers? The only three I have in mind right now, but will try to come up with something else. Chris
Re: Top 10 Homebased Franchises for 2011 - Hi, great list, thanks! Quick question as far as franchises go in comparison to small businesses would you say that they are they doing well or are they suffering in today's economy?
Post subject: It's Not Personal, just business - I so agree! Actually, the business world as we know it IS in trouble. I heard some stats last week that they expect by the time 2050 that 70% of workers will be freelancers. Employee/Executive Bullying won't be able to stand it when it could be easier for someone to simply contract with the nicer guy (or gal). I, for one, will be choosing the nicer ones!
Harley Davidson Video - Questions! - Evan, I just saw your Harley Davidson video - nice. Quick Q's.. 1. What did you use to Edit the Video's - especially the intro.. 2. How did you get such high quality video up on Youtube without the flash compression issues - Is it HD?
2 Forums Updates - Many of you have been writing in suggesting that on my website and in my newsletter we include the link to the actual forum post and not just the name of the post and a link to the Forums home page. Well, after looking into it I'm pleased to announce that this feature is now available. Thank you everyone for the suggestions! We've also added names for members based on how much they post. Level one is Newbie, Level 2 is Intern, Level 3 is Employee and so on... There are 10 levels in total. I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone does! Keep the suggestions coming - they are great!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Having It All... With No Sleep

How to Find a Niche and Make Money Online

The Death of the Sales Magazine

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.