On April 1st, 2023, a Dollar General manager called police to report a grand theft at her store. Upon arrival, police uncover a refund scam that an employee had been doing for months to help her sick mother. What you're about to watch is her interaction with police. to verify is over $800. Okay. But there's probably at least another $1,200 or more dollars we're talking that is that I have not verified yet. Okay. So, it's it's a considerable amount of money and that's just cash refunds. That's not merchandise that's stolen. Merchandise that's been slid in. That's what they're trying to ascertain now is where else is this? Is anybody else involved type of thing? Let me let me see where we're at. Yeah. She's asking that we let them finish there. Well, we need to see where they're at. They need to be a part of that as well. with him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's just um I don't want anybody to hear me. She's writing a statement. So, I know you guys want to talk. You have to talk to her obviously, but can you do it? 2 minutes. So, you can write me the statement cuz I'm going to need a written statement from her as well. Okay. For the company work, we'll need uh we have the video and we have all the transactions already ready for you. We have all the videos together. So, all you do is then you talk to her and you decide what we're going to do. She's two more minutes. She's writing down. All right. I'll grab paper. She's sitting. She's sitting right there. The name you can start on your statement though. Hi Lisa. Hi. Is that how you say your name? Yes sir. Okay. My name is Officer Bner. How you doing today? I'm good. Yeah. Other than being in the LP office, right? Good. Okay. Um get this little I have a magic pocket. It's like Mary Poppins. Got everything in it. All right. All right. So, um, your manage managers kind of briefed us a little bit about what happened. Okay. So, because of what they said, um, because we're here in a closed room, um, I'm going to ask you some questions. Okay. Before I do that, I'd like to advise you of your rights. Okay. So, you do have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be used in court as evidence against you. You are entitled to talk to an attorney now and have him present now or at any time during questioning. Okay. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you without cost. Okay? Does that make sense? Okay. Do you desire to consult with an attorney first or have one during this interview? Okay. If at any time hereafter you wish to remain silent or have an attorney present, all questioning will be stopped. Okay. Has anyone any time threatened, coerced, or promised you anything in order to um induce you to make a statement? No. Okay. Do you understand all of these threats? Okay. Um knowing all of all of your rights, do you wish to talk to us at this time? Okay. I'll talk to the staff and answer just reporting it to us and I'll she talked to me but since he read that I know I've seen everywhere that they read it when they're taking you to tail. So not necessarily. So we the movie Yeah. I'll I'll explain. I need to stop watching. Yeah. Um I'm going to sit down just so I don't stand over you cuz I don't like that. Um, so essentially we read that anytime that there is an allegation of a crime and when law enforcement asks you direct questions in terms of your involvement in that crime. Okay? So I could sit here and, you know, banter back and forth, talk about, you know, flowers and sunshine and rainbows. Um, but as long as I don't ask you a direct question, um, I I wouldn't have to read the the Okay. Um but with that being said, I would like to ask you some questions about your involvement in this whole thing. So um without further ado, like can you tell me what happened? I did some refunds. Okay. Um without having a customer here and having the merchandise. Um my my birth mother, she going through it right now. she her insurance won't cover all of her medicine and the stuff that she needs. Okay. So, she asked for help and me being 21, I didn't work for much um this past year. I was trying to help her. I know it wasn't the right position. Okay. I told them I'm willing to give back the money. I was just trying to help my mom. It wasn't the right thing. I know it was really stupid cuz I could lost my job and go to jail, but I'm trying to help my mom. I can understand that. It's got to be really hard on you. It is, but that still don't that there was no need I couldn't talk or said something. I'm just embarrassed. Yeah, I can understand that as well. Okay. Um, now when you said you're trying to help and you did some refunds, can you tell me a little bit more about that? Yeah. Um some customers don't take their receipts. They just leave the receipts and um we have they have like a barcode on the bottom which you can type in the number and see the um the merchandise they bought and sometimes customers come in here and be like oh like um I didn't I didn't need this or I never used this and I return it. So, I thought of that as the fastest way to help her. So, I did the the refunds and I took the money instead of just leaving it cuz there's no customer there's no merchandise being brought to the store. Mhm. So, I took the money. I did the refund. I took the money to to send it to her. Okay. So, customer comes in um buys something, says I don't need the receipt. Okay. You then had possession of the receipt and would you turn around right then or would you wait until later to initiate a refund? Um sometimes I would just like keep it Mhm. Um leave it there in the in my register and then like if I um if I wasn't busy if I had the the chance like if I wasn't busy doing something and there was no line I would do it. Okay. How long have you been doing that? I said I did it for like a week. A week? Okay. If you had to guess how much money you were able to I I kind of guessed like $1,000. About $1,000. Yeah. Okay. Um you obviously knew that was wrong. It's theft, right? Okay. You know, it's a crime in the United States. Yes. Um you know, I understand you're trying to help mom and everything, but you know, that was stupid. I know. You know, we all have lapses of judgment, okay? It's not the end of the world, right? I know, but that was really stupid. It was stupid, okay? Could ask for maybe extra shifts or something, but it was still going to be it wasn't going to be enough. But listen, no matter what happens today, it doesn't define you, okay? It's just another part of you, okay? So, I understand you're upset, right? Makes sense. You were trying to help your mom. You understand that you did something wrong? Okay. Um I understand from the LP manager. What What's her name? Um the loss prevention lady that was in here. Do you like this? No. Okay. All right. Um so I have a statement form. Okay. You're not obligated to fill it out, but it would help me do my job um if you provided us a statement. Would you be willing to write a statement for me? Okay. Um I don't want to go to jail. So, I'm going to have you start on this line right here. Okay. Um go ahead and put your phone number right there and then start on um phone number and address. Excuse me. Start on that line and just tell me exactly what you told me. Okay. Um the process that you took to um do the refunds about how much you took um and that kind of stuff. Okay. I'm going to step out for just a quick second. All right. If you have any questions, just let me know. All right. Go ahead. Did you see the video? No. No, not yet. They said they've already got it downloaded, though. Okay. They can get paperwork if you want. She's she's got um she's doing a statement right now. So, I'm going to let her do the statement and then we'll Okay, got nine. Go ahead. Resist anything, right? Simple. Yeah, I'll keep Okay. Do you have your ID on you? It's in my my purse. 2002. Mhm. [Music] Everything in your statement is true and correct the best your knowledge. Go ahead and sign right there for me. [Music] Okay. Do you have any personal belongings in the store? personal belongings. Yeah, like a purse, handbag. Yeah, my purse. Where is that kept? It should be in the front. Okay. Have you ever been arrested for uh theft or anything else? No, sir. Okay. Let's go ahead and date it to 4123. Two. 412023. Okay. All right. So, obviously, um, you know, you broke the law, right? Um, unfortunately, the store does want to prosecute for the theft of the money. Okay. Um, so that does mean that you will be going to jail today. However, okay, um it is a crime in which there will be a bond that you can post. Okay. Do you have any family here local? Yes. Okay. So, you'll receive a bond amount. Um I don't know what that amount is going to be just yet. Okay. But the way the process is going to work is that we're going to take you up to Leburg Police Department. Okay. Um down like downtown Leburg. Okay. Uh we'll do initial booking paperwork. All right. All right. Then I'll take you over to the county jail. They'll do their initial book paperwork, photos, fingerprints, all that kind of good stuff. Okay. Um at what point you will be able to post bond. Okay. So, if all goes well, um we get this knocked out pretty quick. You'll be home tonight. Okay. Um again, I don't know what that bond amount is going to be, but I will let you know as soon as I do. Okay. Um once you get over to the county jail, you can call friend, mom, whomever, okay? they'll contact a bondsman unless they have several thousand dollar laying around in cash. Um they go through a bondsman's 10% of whatever the bond is. Okay. So again um you know the theft of anywhere from $800 to $1,000 um is kind of a big deal. Okay. Um but it's not the end of the world. Okay. You going to cooperate? Yes, sir. Everything's going to be okay. All right. So, we'll have you stand up for me. You go ahead and take your keys and your phone. Put your arm right there. That's your jacket. Yes, sir. Okay. And the keys are are your personal keys. Went to the store. Okay. All right. You can take your name tag off. Just leave that right there on the desk. All right. Anything on you that's going to poke stick me, hurt me, nothing like that? No. Okay. I'm just going to pat you down real quick. So, just turn around. Wait, let me have this a box opener. Okay. Yeah. All right. That would hurt. Yeah. Just turn around. I'm just going to do a quick pat down. Nothing in your shirt, in your bra, nothing like that. Okay. All right. Go ahead and put your hands behind your back. The palms together like you're going to pray. Okay. got some really thin wrists there. Hang on. All right, there we go. Relax for me. Okay. They okay? Yeah. Got enough room there. Yeah. You sure? I just I can't breathe. All right, take a deep breath for me. We're going to go out this door in just a second. Everything's in your pocket. Yes. All right. So, here's what we're going to do. We're going to treat that right there. Okay. That way, nobody has to see any of us. Sound good? Yes. Beetle. Beetle. There you go. Watch your head and have a seat. Okay. 28burg. Give the suspect's information for sure. Um, so I'll finish with the paperwork. She's giving us uh copies of every receipt that shows the values and I'll get that total as fast as I can. If if we can't get it in in time, we go with a th00and like the statement says. And then uh she says how it happened was they do they're supposed to be doing monthly reviews. It sounds like your manager's beating herself up cuz she didn't do them as often as she's supposed to. But when she did her reviews, they they the system flags transactions with uh like cash backs or where they cancel a transaction that had cash involved and then they review those transactions to see if there was anything hinky. While she was doing that, that's when she started seeing transactions where she was pocketing cash. So then she started watching everyone that was associated with a cash transaction with her and almost everyone she was taking cash all the time. So um so that's how it originated. I'll get you a date on that as quick as I can. She said uh within the last month is what they've reviewed so far. They're concerned now that it's been since she started here, but yeah. Um, so as far as what you need for booking, that'll that should cover it and then uh I'll I'll get everything here if you just want to go ahead and start PC. Cool. Thank you. Um, she said that she has a uh a purse in the front. Um, you want to potentially? Yeah. You got enough air back there? Can you feel the air conditioning? Turn it up a little bit. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Is this your bag now? Okay. All right. I didn't get All right. So, in here, I've got some cash and I've got some receipts. Okay. Were these also uh refunds that were supposed to happen? Huh? Yes. All of the cash in here was for a refund. Okay. Just to confirm, all of the cash is for a refund. Is that right? Yeah. In in here. Is it in here? Yeah. Okay. What's in there? I haven't the the money. There's more cash in there. There's um No, there's not a lot of it is that right there. Yeah. It's like um I think it's $50 and uh it's like $80 from there that it's um so $80 of this. Mhm. Okay. And then all that's in the open container, right? That's all belonging to Dollar General. Is that correct? Okay. 28 to 9. You uh come back over [Music] here. Oh yeah, she says I just asked her. She says $80 of this um plus all of this belongs to the dollar. She also has receipts in here for other things. Okay. So, do you want to do you want to figure that out at the PD or could I just do it in custody and give it right back now? No, I would do it at the PD. we can put it in as evidence and put them as the owner if need be. But we that way we can lay it out in the booking room video in front of her and have her declare what's hers, what isn't and then we'll separate it out and we can either put it in evidence, make her come get it or we can bring it back up here in the envelope or something. Okay. But I'll just go ahead and take it and have that. Okay, sounds good. All right. All right. Thanks. Yeah. get the other lady to write me one. This one is just, you know, I know after I was told about it, I reviewed the video. Okay. The other one's how she found it and stuff. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] You are going to have glitter all over my car for the rest of my car's life. I'm sorry. It's my perfume. All right. Go ahead and write right into that door. Don't walk in the into the door, but through the door. Okay. Go ahead and uh stand right up against that bench. All right, go ahead and turn around, face the wall, put your right knee up on the bench. I'm sorry. Turn around, face the wall, put your right knee up on the bench. There you go. [Music]