Do you want to talk about the truth or do you want to Because the truth will set you free. I'm a reasonable person and when there's no victim, there's no crime. Anthony, what do you do? I'm a district manager for a bank. Jesus. So, do you and I'm not saying this to be smart, but like do you feel like you're a kleptomaniac? You are suspected in several thefts. Okay. It is being investigated. Okay. They do want to pursue charges. Honestly, my honest opinion, I don't like you guys. I hate you guys back. Sometimes managers think that being in a higher position means they're exempt from the rules. Some of them are dumb enough to think that they can steal and not get caught. When that happens, the only promotion left for them is a vacation behind bars. Or is it? Well, let's find out. Um, I noticed on camera that you were uh responsible for going from register to register and taking the money out of the drawer. Is that a common practice of yours? Okay. Getting promoted is supposed to be a moment of pride. All your hard work gets validated and acknowledged. But this manager at a Target store didn't care for any of that whatsoever. On the 1st of August 2023, the very first day in her new position, she decided to steal from some registers she was in charge of. How were you aware made aware of this? So, I'm made aware of this. every time a team member opens their registry for flags in the system if it's not for sale. Um and as well as I review the closing caches have been been closing. I review all of our closing cash operations regular. Um while I was reviewing we were missing a cash bag, an entire bag. Um and we trying to find out where it went. So I'm like, "All right, I'm just gonna start reviewing a video on the and on the 20th I found the both bags were put there, but then I watch this team number go to another register that register and can see the cash." I'll show you that initial video, but this is the one I clicked on first. There's our team number there. And I have a better picture than coincide. You're good. You're good. It coincide time wise, but this this is a nice clear zoomed in with this hot shot. Okay. The thieving manager either didn't know or didn't care that the store she worked in had highquality 4K cameras pointed right at the cash register. The footage clearly showed the drawers containing every denomination up to 50s and hundreds laid out in plain view. So you combine the 50s and hundreds in the far right. Mhm. Is that how every register is supposed to be? That's the standard. Yeah. So what she does is she takes all of the money out the register. Um, and once she has it all out, she fans it all out. And then you can see the left side, which be the larger bills are because she's setting it up that way. She'll take multiple what looks like on the low end to be three. Okay. So, we went with three. Now, is this common for a cashier to sit here and pull all the money out at the cash register and count it and then typically they should just take it all out, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, and put it in one of those bags. So, they're not usually counting it at the register. They don't count at the register. We have a cash office and machine that counts it. Okay. right there, rolls it up, puts a rubber band on it, sets it on top, puts that my device, little phone thing on top of it, puts the remainder of the money in the bag. She then rebanks the register with the money that's supposed to go in there all the way left. Place the bag on top. That's standard. Places that bag into the cart. And then she comes back and retrieves both her phone and the money that's underneath the right there. Then the agent showed additional footage showing the exact same thing. The store manager stealing hundreds of dollars from various cash registers across the store. After seeing all the evidence, the officer decided to talk to the suspect. My name's Officer Kelly. I work for West Palm Beach Police Department. I'm sure you're aware of why we're here because they told me that they had already spoken to you about it. Yeah, I don't know. Okay. Um, but first off, before I start, I have to read you your rights. It doesn't mean you're under arrest. It just something I have to do before I ask you any questions. Okay? Have you ever heard of the Miranda warnings? You after each one that I read to you, I just need you to give me a verbal yes or no if you understand it. If you don't understand it, I'll go ahead and explain it to you. Okay? All right. You have the right to remain silent, not answer any questions. Do you understand that? I can make no threats or promises to induce you to make a statement. This must be of your own free will. Do you understand that? Okay. I'm just going to have you sign the back of this here. just states that I read you your rights and that you understand your rights. All right. So, as I spoke to your colleagues there, um they basically they're accusing you of taking in unknown amount of money at this point. Um somewhere close to the range of $1,400. Do you know anything about this at all? Okay. The suspect put on a calm demeanor. She knew the reason the cops were there, but she didn't want to incriminate herself further. She said she'd worked there for 3 years already and never had any issues. The officer then asked her about procedure. As she explained, the officer focused on the part where she took the money out of the register. So, how would you take it out of the drawer? Take it out, put in the red or green bag, and then put the next bag into the Okay. So, you basically just go from each money slot, pull it out, place it in a bag. Don't look at it or anything. Right. I fix it up if I need to prove it. So if it's out of order or something, you'll you'll fix it up. Okay. Would there be any reason why you would roll up money? No. Okay. So you wouldn't roll it in to any kind of like money roller and then put a rubber band over it or anything? No. Okay. So when I was watching the video footage, it's pretty clear that it was that it's what you were doing is rolling it into a money roll, placing a rubber band over it, and then placing it on top of the desk. Why would you be doing that? You didn't do that. Okay. So, why would the video footage show you doing that? She was like a deer caught in the headlights of a truck. And the problem was this metaphorical truck was heading right towards the woman at 100 mph. And sadly for her, it was going to take her straight to jail. There was nowhere to run. And despite the video footage, she decided to stick to her story. You see where I'm at here, right? I'm watching a video footage that's unedited from the department store who has no reason to accuse you of this. I don't know if it's unedited, but I have never done anything like that. Okay. Is there anything else you'd like to add to this? All right. So, M. Janine, based off the video evidence and uh the statements made by your co-workers, I'm going to be taking you to jail tonight. Is there anything on your person that might poke or stick me? No. Okay. Can you stand up for me, please? What is going to happen with my items? Uh, they're going to go with you to jail. Okay. Can you take this jacket off? Okay. Thank you. They told Miss Janine that after she was processed in jail, she'd be able to talk to a lawyer. That's when she realized they were about to lead her out in handcuffs, no less, right in front of her co-workers. She tried to avoid the walk of shame, but apparently not because she was embarrassed. Wasn't ready to do this like walking out of a store. Unfortunately though, cuz uh once you're in our custody, we have to place you in handcuffs in case you try to run away. We've had people run away and cracked their head. So, it's a liability thing. So, we have to detain you like this, unfortunately. And you guys are walking out of side doors, I'm assuming. If there is a side door available, yeah, we can do that. No, why not? However, our cars are parked at the front. So, I I know you guys know the fire emergency doors or whatever. I've actually never been through them. So, especially we don't know how they get those stairs either. That's really embarrassing. They're going to be embarrassed after they are proven wrong. This woman would have us believe that she was willing to exit through the fire escape, not to spare herself the humiliation, but to save her bosses from embarrassment once they realized they were wrong about her. The cops, however, were not going to buy it. I'll just walk with you. Can one of you guys lead us out? Yeah. Thank you. After being escorted past customers and her former co-workers, she was led out of the store and placed in a squad car. She didn't resist or try to flee. She just quietly accepted her fate. Am I just leaning against the target? Could you loosen the left side? Left side. Yeah. Is it because it's caught in your hair band, do you think, or is it Let me take this. It's okay. All right. I'm going to reach around you and I'm going to put the seat bel. Okay. Actually, I'll wait because I have a female officer that's going to come and do a thorough search on you. Um, I'm going to drive you to the back over there. So, we're not doing all this right now. Ultimately, Miss Janine was sentenced to 12 months probation. Also, she had to pay 2500 bucks in restitution. But if you think that's not an appropriate sentence, just wait till you hear about our next case. On April 11th, 2024, the cops got a report about a general manager at a staple store who reportedly had an elaborate scheme set up. According to his superiors, he stole over $30,000 before eventually getting caught. Got a GM. Mhm. My uh he just went on LOA. Okay. What is that? 20 nights leave of absence. Okay. I request to the store to this GM, send me your Garta log that shows their sign for it. Garter comes, picks them up once a week and then our weekly deposit log. So he sends that to me and they look fine. Look like they're picked up and gone. So I'm thinking, "Oh, it's not our fault. Must be the Garta." They have a camera system, so I have to verify and confirm, right? So I'm watching it and in any given week, you got seven business days. Carter comes once a week, so you get seven business days. [music] So they should pick up a minimum of of seven bags. So a guard comes in. They're supposed to pick up seven bags. He scans six. It's clear as a day in the video. So the company had seven bags logged in the records, but the video showed the guard was only given six. The only possible culprit was the general manager. And to make things worse, by the time the store alerted police, they were missing 11 bags in total. The guy I'm suspicious of, it's so obvious. I'll show you a clip. Okay. The GM, he's got a problem. There's no question about this, everybody. I mean, I talked to the the key holders. I go, "Anything different going on?" That's another story. That's He says he's in the hospital. He's in rehab. Anyway, the way it's set up, it's motion activated. So, as soon as that door comes open, the the video backs up maybe 2 seconds. Mhm. And then it it it starts recording. Okay. And then you see the door open, you see the people come in. What he does is he uses this prop right there. He used that once. This is This is lost and found stuff that shouldn't have been down there, but this envelope was in there. And he's he has no reason to really go in there unless a customer says, "Hey, I left my passport here and just went in there." But this is so out of policy, it's not even funny. The GM would try to position himself so the camera wouldn't be able to catch him taking the deposit money and then putting it in a lost and found envelope. He would then carry the stolen money into his office, which had no surveillance whatsoever. To build a strong case against the man, the detectives had to work for several months. But on July 18th, 2024, the cops finally arrested the culprit. What's your name, sir? Anthony. Anthony, you're under arrest. You have you have an arrest warrant. Okay. Is there any guns in here? No, sir. Okay. Just stay right where you're at. You're under arrest for felony charges out of the city of West Palm Beach and referenced in fraudulent. Nope. That was for that was for Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. Yes. Charges. City of West Palm Beach. Come on out. Come on out. No. Come on out. Well, put your hands on top of the car. Charges. They're new. They're new. You You got arrested on the 12th for Palm Beach County. That was for schemes of defraud and using other people's property, things like that. This is for something completely different. Anthony looked stunned. He had taken a leave of absence and when he returned to work, nobody said a word. He probably thought he'd gotten away with it. Um, so I'm recording. Um, I'm the detective assigned to this investigation. Okay. Uh, you understand that you're obviously under arrest. You have the right, right, to remain silent. Um, that anything you say may and will be used against you in a court. Do you understand that? Yes sir. Okay. Right now it's the time for me to ask you questions and for you to answer whatever you want to answer. Okay. Um the allegations are that were you an employee of Staples? Yeah, I work for Staples. Okay. And then what's your date of birth, Anthony? Um how long do you work for Staples? I work for Staples. I started with them in New York um in uh say April 2023. Anthony explained that he was out for 3 months due to a medical condition caused by the stress of his work. But from what he explained, it didn't seem to be different or any more stressful than any other corporate manager job. What was it about the job that you don't have to tell them about your physical ailments, but what was it about the job that would make you physically ill? So um just uh very um strenuous uh shifts. There was a lot the company went through some very major um realignments and shifts, changes to their operation structures and personnel structures, functional structures of personnel. You know, I was um brought there under the pretense and agreement. Part of why I accepted it was because I was told it was a turnkey operation and then that it was going to be um transitioning to a growth market model. So upon going there and we we started getting bombarded with um very high level um visits from corporate from all over the country um you know from the investment group and with that leading up to it it would be fire drills to just prep make preparations clean the store get all things just perfect and I mean working open to close for days weeks at a time for that this guy thought the job would be a sin But then came the corporate visits, fire drills, cleaning the store, and so forth. Looks like Anthony just couldn't take it anymore. The detective didn't seem impressed and quickly tried to get to the point in this uh particular location and area in the surrounding stores hadn't gone through the transition. I'm just trying to set the So, so you have a stressful job. I have a stressful job. People have stressful jobs. Do you have any idea? And and just this is the time where you can help yourself, right? Is you have any idea why a detective will be talking to you right now? And before you answer, please please do you have any idea why I will be here talking to you specific to Staples? No, sir. No. How many people had access and a key to the cash room at Staples? I would say other than myself there were of I think four four other people. Okay. I mean and that's just during that time mind you like I was telling you before there were many visits with many managers at different levels. He immediately started spinning the story insinuating that any of the senior managers who visited the store also had access to that room. However, what he didn't know was that the video only showed him fiddling with the safe and not just on one occasion very frequently. Okay. The allegations is that there's money missing and just before you answer I've been working this case now for quite some time. Right. Okay. So, the allegations would you know what there will be any allegations that there will be money missing from the cash room of Staples? I can tell you what I am privy to regarding um the discre discrepancies because I was involved with investigating them um probably I don't remember how long before I went out sick but um I remember we provided all the information and the the uh you know the uh armored carrier logs and you know just everything that went along with that. And at at that point um you know that's as far as I was um involved with that. Once they confronted Anthony with the real reason he was getting arrested, his stuttering became more pronounced and he found it increasingly difficult to put a sentence together. Notice how the officer takes his glasses off to make eye contact when asking the ultimate question. they um hadn't received um uh deposits that were Did you ever did you ever take any money from Staples in before you answer that? I've been dealing with this for now a few months. Did you ever take any cash deposits from Staples? I did not take any cash deposits from Staples and I understand. Anybody else take cash deposits from Staples? Not to my knowledge. Not that I've seen or I'm aware of. So, if there's video of you walking out of that cash room with cash deposits, you're saying that that video would not be truth. I'm saying that that's not what it I did not take any cash deposits out of Staples now. And I was I explained over the phone. Anthony said that he worked hard on consolidating the lost and found, which he claims was kept at the bottom of the same safe where they kept the deposits. He claimed to return the lost items to the owners himself. And that's why he was seen taking stuff out of the safe. At no point did I did I go in there and take money out of there. I mean, I I you know, I've been I've been going through enough and it it's been hard enough like what's been going on. We see I was working open to close for for months on end since I started there. No days off and my family is out here. We haven't we were we weren't even able to settle into a permanent home yet. I have seven kids. Did my job. Did everything I was asked. Gone to other locations to help. Do you want to be truthful today or am I just going to listen to you talk? Do you want to talk about the truth or do you want to? Because the truth will set you free. I'm a reasonable person and when there's no victim, there's no crime, Anthony. So, if Staple decides not to be a victim any longer, you're not going to see Detective Palasios anymore. But if I'm going to sit here and I'm going to have to accept you lying to me, I think that's a little bit unfair. I think that's disrespectful and we'll just we'll just leave it at that and you stick to your story. Anthony insisted he was innocent till the end, even after they confronted him multiple times with video footage of him taking the money. He was arrested and charged with felony grand theft and scheme to defraud. However, instead of serving jail time, he only got 2 years probation. Stealing from Staples is one thing, but what about stealing from the United States president? On January 22nd, 2025, 911 got a call exposing Heraldo De Jesus Serorano. It was Soraniano's job to inspect all incoming mail for the 2024 presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump. Your position is an national finance director and senior adviser for President Trump. Correct? Yes. and you at your um and you received some checks, correct? And can you correct can you tell me from there exactly what we you know basically what what we talked about before? Sure. Sure. So um I received checks um from my husband in Tallahassee. They were business checks from my business account. They were sent via United or UPS on October 28th. They arrived October 30th um at the Trump campaign headquarters. Um and I received a call today that a um an individual with the last name Soraniano. Yes, that's it. Yes. that he um was at the check cashing store that he had um one of my business checks that he'd written the check out to himself and forged his name as the signer or snee. The woman explained that she was told that it was Sorano's job to make sure there were no harmful items in Trump's mail and that position meant that he also came in contact with checks from various donors. One day, Soraniano decided to make a quick buck by writing one of those checks to himself to the tune of $1,500 and then tried to cash it. He instructed the uh the teller that I had agreed to uh pay for his car insurance. Um, I then also spoke to the um, manager of the check cashing store, I believe her name was, and she verified that that is what happened, that she was holding that check um, for me or for the police to come and pick that check up. Okay. And they did not allow him to process the check. Perfect. So just so we get have an understanding, you did not allow him to check the cash cash the check for his insurance. Correct. That's correct. I did not allow him to cash a check. I've never given him the check or any checks. I've actually never met him. Okay. So he had no authorization whatsoever to have that check or try to cash. Correct. So how does this work? Did the man open each and every package? Well, not exactly. His job was to scan the packages and open them if needed. In this way, they'd know exactly what was inside and then decide if it was safe to be sent to the president. My understanding was he was the person who when UPS or mail or Federal Express, whatever whatever vehicle was used, uh brought um mail and such into the Trump 47 campaign. He was housed on the 11th floor and the f he was the first line of of of that um process where he would do the intake. He would sign for these documents uh or checks or sign for any materials that were coming in and they would then move on to a scanning process and security process. Okay. So basically scan make sure it's safe and then and then the mail will go to the the person the proper party. That is correct. Okay. Um, so he had access within basically all the mail that came in for anybody that was here at the part the committee. That is correct. Yes. All right. Strangely enough, at one point, this business owner had a $3,000 bracelet sent to the very same address. And once again, Soraniano just couldn't keep his hands off. It all sounds pretty strange to me, so we'll let her explain it. you want to do. Should I mention what happened with the bracelet or keep that separate? Oh, I'm so sorry. Yes, the bracelet, please. Yes. Okay. So, so um on or about around that same time, so middle of October, last part of October, um I'd had a bracelet sent um from a jeweler in, I believe, Boston. I'm not sure exactly location, maybe New Jersey. Um but it was a $3,000 bracelet. Um, and we have the signature of Mr. Soraniano accepting the package. Okay. Um, he signed an affidavit and wrote that yes, I accepted the package and said that he passed it on to the next person. Um, and my understanding is the next person says they never received it and it just completely disappeared. I guess you could say Soraniano wasn't a career criminal. He just gave into temptation when he had the opportunity. First with the checks, then with the bracelet. But the officer soon discovered there was more to this story than just a few bad choices. Yes, we had that incident happen. Around the same time, we also had um checks that were sent to me um from a group of businessmen out of Thomasville, Georgia. Um, and that once the checks were received, um, I would say maybe just a couple days later, a few days later after they were received, I received a subsequent call from the chief financial officer for one of the check writers saying that um, their bank had alerted them that one of the checks had been um, recreated to be identical to their check um, down to the signature, but the K had been changed out to someone they did not know named whose address was a homeless shelter. So they then subsequently stop payments on all of their checks totaling $300,000 to make sure that none of the other checks were also misused. Okay, looks like Soraniano with this little scheme messed up a whole lot of business. Soon after that conversation, a warrant was issued for Sorano's arrest. And it wasn't too long before they caught up with him. You're all though, right? No weapons, right? No. All right. Listen, man. You're good. Listen, I need you to step out of the car. We got a warrant for your arrest. Okay. some don't reach me. Just we'll get to all that. It's a warrant for fraud. Some type of fraud activity. Okay. So, here. Unlock this door. You're good. You're good. Everything's good. When the officers told him about the warrant, Zoraniano didn't look too surprised. At least he did one thing right. He didn't try to resist them. I mean like I piece of I got a long sleeve shirt. Nothing in the other shorts. It's getting there. You want to sit him in a car? Weather we're going to sit you in this car. Excuse me. The detectives later determined that he had pawned the bracelet at a nearby pawn shop for a measly $700. They charged Soraniano with grand theft under 5,000, possession of over 10 forge checks, fraud, impersonation for using an ID of a person over 60 years of age, using false owner information at a pawn shop, and dealing or trafficking stolen property. It's always refreshing when a suspect cooperates instead of resisting. A similar thing happened on December 19th, 2023 when a Target employee got a surprise visit from the police. How you doing? Detective County Sheriff's Office kind of briefly inform me of what was going on today. In order for me to talk to you, I need to review your rights. Have you ever been arrested before, sir? All right, sir. So, you have the right to remain silent. With your uh rights in mind, do you wish to talk to me today? Yeah, that's fine. Okay. So, I was notified by Target that apparently over the course of your employment, there's a lot of cash registers that were turned up short and that they have video surveillance of you uh folding money in your hand and instead of putting it into money counter, you slipped into your pocket. Is that accurate? Yes, sir. This young man, Cameron, owned up to his crimes immediately and with no hesitation. In contrast to Antonio, the sneaky GM from Staples, Cameron didn't try to make excuses or deny what he had done. So, naturally, the officer was wondering just what made him do it. Okay. Is there a reason why this was happening? Are you It was just like financial hardships. Um, and then it turned into a bad habit that should have subsided long long ago or never even started. But yeah, that's all it stem from. Okay. Do you happen to have a problem? Because we do have like core we have programs to get people help. Nothing addictive. Okay. Nothing serious like that. Just needed to get out of a hole and then it stuck with a bad habit really. Okay. Um do you roughly know about how much it's been going on for the past, you know, almost a year or 6 months? Um I I believe it was 6 months since I started. That's when I bought my house. That's when I needed to um finalize some things that Okay. Yeah. He admitted that it all started when he was short on cash. And he was short on cash because he just bought a home for his family. Sadly, he didn't stop there and went on with his criminal activities. It was up to the officers to figure out exactly how much he managed to steal throughout his career as a thief. You about how much money roughly? They're they're estimating 10,000. 10,000? Yeah. Okay. Do you think it might be a little bit more than that? Cuz I know it's about 10,000 only in the last two months. Two months? Yeah, the last two last uh 30 to maybe 90 30 I would say 30 to 60 days is about just over 90 grand. Wow. Yeah. Not that I'm aware of. Like I told them I I when I received it I I spend it on on like materials and stuff cuz I'm remodeling my house. So Okay. Nothing that I'm aware of. Okay. Understandable. You married sir and kids? Just engaged. Got kids. Yeah. Okay. How many kids do you have? Um technically two. Okay. Mhm. biological or Okay. All right. At this point, it almost sounded like the officer felt conflicted. He most likely felt sorry for the guy. Not to mention, he was kind enough to take care of kids who weren't biologically his. That being said, he did commit a felony by stealing a substantial amount of money from his employer. All right, sir. Well, today you you are going to be placed under arrest. Okay. Okay. you'll be able to bond out of the jail. And then from there, it's with your attorney speaking with the state's attorney and target on working out some type of agreement in order for paying back. And you can go and see what the charges are going to be. Sure. Okay. They could reduce the charges, they can drop the charges as long as most likely the money is paid back to Target and Target agrees to accept the money before it goes to trial, then they can always drop the case with [music] the state's attorney's office. Thank you. Okay. So, that's something you can definitely work out. Mhm. All right. Do you have any questions for me? No, sir. Do you have any questions for Target? No, I'm not that aware. Okay. So, you are you do understand you are um fired from the store? Yep. Okay. Is he trespass from the store? Yes. Okay. And you are being trespassed from the store as well. Okay. It means you cannot come back to the store property unless you actually speak with somebody from the store and then they lift it. The officer then explained what the trespass meant and said that to lift it completely, Target also had to notify police. After the second officer took Cameron's photo so both the cops and Target would have him in their records, it was time to get the handcuffs out. All right, stand up for me. Well, before you do you have anything in your pock? Do you have I just got keys and a phone and a wallet. Key phone wallet. Okay, take it out. No uh no knives or anything? Nothing harmful. Take off this watch. And we're going to take off this watch. Okay. So that way we have some room and you're not getting cut off circulation. Okay. And it doesn't damage your watch. Thank you. Yeah. I wait for I got nothing gross in there. No, you just listen. In this line of work, you you seen it all. I just don't put my hands in people's pockets. So I got gloves on. Just walk front and then I'll hold the door. Cameron walked out of the store with his head held high and without creating a scene. When they got to the squad car, it was time to search the man more thoroughly, this time with gloves. While the arresting officer went to get them, the other officer placed his hand on Cameron just in case. I don't run away or I'm not worried about the running part. I'm not worried about the running part. That is part of scenarios with tasers and trust me, I'm pretty accurate. I doubt that you would have run away from from me at least. I don't know about him. Did you guys get taste? I'm fairly fast. I'm fairly fast though. Good. Give me just a second. Go ahead and take a seat. Hey, Cameron, you be so honest with us. Is there any money in your wallet that belongs to Target? Uh, just the big bills, I think. Okay. One second. 3737. It's warm in here, man. I don't like being cold. I don't like being really hot or really cold, so I can try. If it's too hot, just let me know. After a few subtle threats involving taser use, the officers then check Cameron's wallet. Even though he admitted to having some money that belonged to the store, the cops still called a store manager to help sort things out. So, I told G that he's been so honest with us, right, and that I was going to search his wallet. I asked him, "Was there any money in here that belong to Target?" He said, "Just the big deals." Okay. So, if you want to continue with that line, I can pull out whatever. Yeah. When is this from this money? It's from It's not from today. It's from previous days. Okay. So, how much money is supposed to be in here? I don't. Is it safe to say that most of this money is from Target or changed from five $100 bills. The officer counted a total of $1,029. The problem was there was no way of determining which bills were his and which belonged to the store. They eventually decided to let the courts decide. These have the big bills. Um what's it $2 bill? Yeah, we'll keep the $2 bill. I would actually take out uh all the fives and the ones in there. Um if we're taking the $2 bill, right? Yeah. The small bill probably the big bills are anymore hidden in there. But if he went and spent $20 and got changed, she said that Yeah, true. that the money that in the wallet was either the money from taken or the change from paper. All right. You haven't taken out any money from the bank in the last week. All right. Do me a favor. You have the camera. You can put this here. Uh when you get a chance, if you can separate it by denominations. I'm going to pull out my laptop and I got to print it here. I'll do the form, get it printed, and maybe get somebody up here to sign it. That way, it's all done and then you just turn it in. You good with that? Cameron was jailed and charged with fraud and grand theft. He was sentenced to 5 years probation, community service of 100 hours, and had to attend an anti- theft course and a vital living skills course. On top of that, he had to pay $8,855 in restitution. Less than 2 months after Cameron's arrest, the cops were called to yet another Target store. This time in Tallahass, Florida. Target's loss prevention team had reported a well-known scammer who'd stolen from them multiple times. This time the suspect was a female. The comments. Is that the first time you've ever stole? Yes. Ever. Did I? Yes. Intentionally. Yes. Okay. So, this is about your ninth time. I got from Tallahassee. you were just there a couple days ago talking to Ocala and you asked multiple different things from Legos to uh beddings all kinds of stuff. So I've got about how many instances do you think I have? I'm not sure. Okay. It's well over $1,300. Okay. So we're adding this up right now. Uh can I pay that? No ma'am. It's funny how people think that's an option. If you have the money to pay for it, why don't you just pay for it? The female officer made a fair point. With people stealing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise and just getting probation or a slap on the wrist, some find the reward outweighs the risk. But there's something here that just doesn't fit. And the cops decide to investigate further. We got money to pay for this. Why you doing this? I honestly I can't do it on purpose. Like I thought I saw this camera, but I scanned it. You see this camera right there? If you click on one of those old 12 screens and it blows up the whole screen and you know, so yeah, it shows you about five minutes ago sitting here doing this whole looking around thing and then scanning one thing and we we watched the whole thing. These cameras here are really good. And um also again nine different times in all these different cities and you got the money to pay for it. I want you to pay for it. Like that is accepted. Appreciate you. I mean I sit here and appreciate that. Is somebody else out in the vehicle? Yeah. Have you got somebody else out there waiting on you? According to the officers, when someone repeatedly steals in the same way, it often means it was an organized affair. The problem is this suspect doesn't seem like someone who's in dire need of cash. She seemed to be pretty well off. Which vehicle was yours? Would you mind checking? No, maybe there's not. It's just me spot has a sticker on the back. This is not a soccer. So, you got to go to jail today. Um whether the car stays here or gets towed or whatever these guys. But, um yeah, they got too many charges on this one. Sorry. I'm not sorry. Nine times. It's you know about time. Can I just ask one question? You can answer me or not. We know how these things work and we can tell when people are not being honest with us. Yes, ma'am. The female officer was pretty sure this suspect was part of an organized crime group. Therefore, she continued questioning her, hoping she might confess or at least slip up a little and say something incriminating. But she's about to find out that this lady has an ulterior motive for her crimes. Normally when people are doing this, there's either somebody behind it having you do it or you're in working in conjunction with somebody. It's very rarely ever just the one lady who goes in looking like your normal soccer mom. Yes, ma'am. And stealing all this stuff up and down the interstate. Do you not want to tell us who you're working with? I'm not. Where do you live? In Ohio. Why were you in Tallahassee? I I work and sometimes in town. What about Tallahassee? Oh, I'm sorry. I was there. It was my aunt's birthday and we had to tell my daughter. Your daughter go stealing sprints with you? It's very interesting. Continuing the same line of questioning, the male officer expressed how strange it was that a woman who drives a Beamer, has an iPhone, and wears expensive clothes and jewelry would stoop this low. But he does have a point. It was only 166 bucks worth of merchandise. But wait till you hear what her actual job is. So why are you in Dville today? I have to work. What do you do? I'm a district manager for a bank. Jesus Jesus. All right. Well, I'm afraid to ask what you think. So, do you and I'm not saying this to be smart, but like do you feel like you're a kleptomaniac? I mean, we get all the time. We're not judging or anything, right? I mean, I do. I have to That's probably But do you buy your clothes? Yes, ma'am. Okay. So, you know how to buy towards your meat, right? I mean, it's not kleptomania is the inability to resist the urge to steal. Usually, it has nothing to do with financial gains. It's like having OCD, but instead of being compelled to clean things, you want to steal things instead. How many cases do you have on her? Uh, just Gainesville. We have one, two, three. Four. This is going to be the fifth. So four and five coming today. Just in Gainesville. Are they all same thing? Just a selfch check out. Does this put scheme to def. I thought it was going to be that lady that was on a bolo the other day. There's so many of them. I know. The suspect probably hoped she'd be able to bail out of jail just as soon as she got there, but the cops explained she'd have to spend the night there and that she wouldn't bond out till tomorrow. That's when she mentioned her child. How old is your child? So they can get here at the car. Again, that's something you probably should think about before you're doing your Wonder Woman. Yeah. thinking about the hour. Absolutely. Here tonight. I got to go to Tower Road. I'll be here all night. I'll be here until he's 9. I'll be here like seven or so. Yeah. Night later. Okay. Yeah, I'll be here. You're just a busy man today. Barnes, everywhere I go. He seems to all day. Now you always answer and of course that guy at the cycling place always answer, but you know. Um, [gasps] [sighs] um, do you have anything in your purse or on you that's illegal? If you got medication prescribed, and that's a sign. The female officer got her gloves on and asked the woman to remove her jewelry. She was then given a quick pat down and was told that the real search would take place at the jail where X-rays are used for a more thorough inspection. Just set your jewelry right here for now. And then after he searches it, we can put it in there. Are you married right now? Yes, ma'am. That's another person that's going to be freaking out. Looks like there's her driver's license on. You want to get your watch and everything? Can you stand up for me? you don't have anything tucked on you underneath the bras or anything. So, just so you know, and I'm not saying you do, but if I search you and there's something I don't find like tucked somewhere, that would be the introduction to comfort. Oh, okay. These supposed thieves seem to be learning their manners. You'd expect a respected bank manager would be really riled up after getting arrested for petty theft. But thankfully, she kept her composure through the entire ordeal. On September 9th, 2024, police were called to a university store. Apparently, some money had gone missing and the store owners decided to look into it. Soon they realized that one of their managers had been up to no good. Hey, how you doing, Sergeant? How are you? Good. Good. Walter, nice to meet you. Come on. So, what's going on today? We had a situation involved in internal theft that exceeded $5,000 $5,275 to be exact. The associate was doing fraudulent refunds, refunded it onto a gift card, the gift card to her own personal credit card for her own personal use. So she was taking fraudulent orders and making those orders into refunds. Then we interview her interviewed her, she could. After the officer ensured he understood what was happening, he decided to mirandize the suspect who was waiting in the other room. He explained to the woman that a detective would soon be coming to talk to her. So, I'm Detective Cura. How you doing? You all right? Again, this is just an investigation at this point. Okay. So, start fresh. Can I ask some questions? Yeah, absolutely. And you guys are completely honest. Are we completely [music] honest? Yeah. Okay. Would this affect me from having a different job? This right now is an investigation. You're not under arrest. We're in Is your office? Yeah, we're in your office. I see some of the officers around. So, just because you see a lot of the officers around doesn't mean you're going to jail. Okay. It doesn't mean you're being charged with anything at this point. Okay. I don't know what's going to happen, what's not going to happen. Okay. Although he didn't lie to the young woman, he did avoid discussing a difficult topic pretty masterfully. He wanted the woman to remain as calm as possible to extract the most information from her and strengthen his case. Okay. So, you wrote this voluntary statement. Yes. And you're the store manager? Yes. Refunded soda orders to my debit card. So, somebody comes in, they want to buy a soda. You refunded that money. Oh, no. Soda is just the name of um on our online orders. Gotcha. Okay. So, somebody makes a purchase online under the soda. Basically what happened was we have abandoned orders and abandoned orders is basically online orders that customers have not picked up and these were old orders. So these were like back in like 2021 right? Okay. What I did was I took those bank orders and I processed them on this I guess program. So I did the refund from my orders and I put it on a gift card. And after I put on my gift card, I went to the register and I took that refund money and put it in my debit card. This manager, however, did not resort to stealing directly from the cash register. She put her brain into it and tried a different route. However, she should have known that all those digital transactions would be pretty easy to follow for someone who knows what they're doing. Like the other suspects we saw today, she probably didn't think that far ahead. approximately $3,852.25. How did you come up with that total? So, I believe I did it I think six times of that same process over the past how long? Three weeks. Six times in total. And it says, uh, you are willing to pay it back? Yes. The fear of getting evicted from my home. What's going on there? So, what happened was I was in a car accident. I want to say May 24th, end of May, and it resulted in a total loss of my car. And because of that car accident, our insurance raised up to 2,100. Wow. Also, like because I didn't have a car, I had to pay every week for a rental car so I can come to work. And on top of that, we also have to pay rent, which is 2,400. It's only me, and my dad working. And so because we were so short on money, we didn't have enough to pay out. Even though the young manager was in really dire straits and claimed to have been forced to steal the money, her statements reveal something else. She admitted that apart from the insurance, car rental and the rent. She also used the money to buy herself some other stuff. I've also used the gift card separately to purchase an iPad and AirPods. That's not included in the refund. Uh what do you mean by that? you used a like that cycle that you used to put it on gift card and then instead of taking the gift card money and putting on your debit, you just went and ordered. So with the iPad and the AirPods, all I knew at the time was to put the funds in a gift card and that was it. Okay. And so I just used it to purchase an iPad and AirPods for my sister's birthday. Your sister got the iPad and AirPods. I have the iPad. chance. Okay. So, you started doing this because of rent to help your parents out so you guys don't get evicted. Then the sister's birthday came up and [clears throat] said, "Hey, let me do it again and then I'll get her the AirPods." And you kept the iPad. Did you need the iPad? Like, was were you It was I was going to use it for work. Work. She seemed very apologetic and ashamed of what she'd done, but the biggest shock was yet to come. She claimed she now had enough savings to pay back what she owed. And in fact, she could do it that very day. Just to wrap it all up, you stole numerous times throughout August. Let's say September. September. Even though you had the money in the account in the savings account. No, my savings those that was money I've been saving for my paycheck. No, no, but over the course of time. But what I'm saying, I'm just trying to put the logic. So, because you're stealing from here, you didn't have the funds or you already had the funds. You just didn't want to touch your savings. I didn't want to touch my savings. So, if your parents are like, "Hey, I need money." You could have gone into your savings and pulled out some money. I didn't want to because it took me a long time to build up that savings. The the savings I have now before it took me like I want to say two years to build the savings I have now. Okay. But before I had completely nothing because I keep giving money to my parents over me and I'm always left with nothing and I got sick of it. So I just then I tell myself that this time I don't want to lose my savings because I want to be able to get out. Okay. [clears throat] Well, of course we all want to get out of the rat race, but there are more innovative, not to mention legal ways to do it. Still, there was one more thing the detective had to know. He wondered how she came up with such an elaborate scheme. That's pretty creative to go online, look up old orders, refund them back to yourself as a gift card. Like, how'd you come up with that? Did somebody else teach you this? Did you just thinking outside the box? Huh? What do you think? What's wrong? I can't say. Can't say. Please feel free to say whatever you want. I was talking. You were taught by somebody that works here. She never works here. I told her about my financial situation. So, she told me about this. And she did this prior. Did she get caught? She did. That's why I did let her go. She did. Did she get arrested? I don't know. But she was like, "Hey, this is a good idea." even though she got caught. It's kind of weird. I did have second thoughts. I was just like, "Is this right?" And then she was like, "It's abandoned order, so it won't go against you." So, I trusted her. As it was an ongoing investigation, the officer didn't immediately arrest her. He let her go, provided she returned the iPad and the iPhones. After she left, it didn't take too long for the officer to find out who her secret mentor was. Do I wait or do I start leaving? You have been free to go this entire time. Oh, it's just an investigation. So, I thought I had to Oh, yeah. You're not detained. You're not You're not under custody. We're at your work. Um, so I appreciate you sticking around answering those questions. So, I'll talk to him. Here's your phone. The same thing happened at the Gardens campus, Palm Beach Gardens campus. So there the three of them were all doing the same thing. Three of them. So there was two people we terminated. So she did tell me that as well. She said that she was caught by Allesia probably. She didn't say the name but and she got arrested. She didn't because she paid restitution right away. She paid it in full that day. So the only reason we're prosecuting this was a the dollar amount and then she's unable to pay the restitution today. So, she says she would pay it off today. Then we could do that. The following day, this young extore manager returned the iPad and AirPods as she promised. Judging by her demeanor, she probably thought she could avoid jail time. However, since the stolen amount was so huge, she was in for a very rude awakening. The charges are going to be felony grand theft. That's over $3,000 and scheme to defraud. Honestly, that's not up to me. But since you have no priors, I've seen people leave within an hour. Um, if you have funds, you can bail yourself out. How much do I have to pay you? That's to get all that out when you go to jail. Come on, young lady. After searching the woman, she was taken to jail and formally charged. Her story is a cautionary tale about always thinking with your head instead of blindly following someone else's advice. They might be your friends, but that doesn't always mean their advice is any good. On October 26th, 2022, during a routine audit at a Dollar General store, there were some very shady transactions uncovered. When the cops arrived, they were greeted by the store manager, Jim, and he tried to explain things to an officer. Hi, I'm Jim. I'm Andrew. I'm the loss prevention manager. So, we This is a high shrink store for us. We just had we just had an inventory. I figured. So, I have I'm required to come in here about every 60 90 days to do an audit. I've been out the last six weeks that had hip replacement. So, I was just here last week and we found a situation employee associates. Okay. She's been doing um transaction voids, allowing people to go through the selfch checkout and then allowing them to leave with merchandise after she voids it out. Okay. The employee involved, later identified as Jess, had a very sobb story of her own. She claimed she was married and had several children, but claimed she did this out of the goodness of her heart for a friend who needed help. She admitted to stealing about $1,000 over several months, even though Jim said it was much more than that. Yeah. So, all these transactions, everything is highlighted. This is for you. That's so at that time 2232 for $424.93. Okay. So, just in the course of these four days, about 1,000 bucks. So, you've gone through and highlighted the ones that are involving her. Yeah. The store manager validated. He's verified them on video. So, these highlighted ones you verified a majority of them. Uh cuz I I did them yesterday. I went through all of them. Okay. It's just today I had to remake it. So, because I didn't want them to see it and so I highlighted I'll maybe go through it again, double check. Okay. But most of them they should be right because they're all the same time frame, you know, because it's always at 2200. What are you seeing on the video? Are you seeing the same individual? Same individual. Guy will come in at night and go through the selfch checkout. She'll be in tandem with them. Void out the transaction, take the cart, walk out with it. Okay. Can I get you to write a statement? It looked like the store managers had the smoking gun and there was nowhere for the suspect to hide. However, the officer explained that they might not arrest her right away as the case might require detectives to get involved to take a more thorough look. Jessica, hi, I'm Officer Bel. Um, can I close this? Sure. Or do you want Do you want to um do you want to hang out here, sir? So, yes. You know why I'm here? Yep. I'm just going to tell you right off the bat, um I don't know how this will play out. Okay. as far as is this going to be a larger investigation that our detectives will handle or this is something that I'm going to be arresting you taking to jail tonight? I prefer not the latter but of course nobody wants to go to jail but sadly for Jessica it's out of her hands. If it were only Jessica this might have gone down quicker. However, since she had an accomplice, it's a little more complicated and most likely the detectives will probably have to get involved. Having that in mind. Okay. Your cooperation is is important obviously and it seems like you've been cooperative so far. Yes, sir. You're not under arrest at this time. I'd like to not be under arrest if possible. And I saw you wrote a statement that was on your own. Yes. Okay. I was not forced to. It was completely of my own free will. Okay. So, before I go any further in my investigation, even though you're not under arrest, I'm going to read you your rights. Okay. Okay. You have the right to remain silent. Having these rights in mind, do you wish to talk? Oh, dude. Revoke my cooperation now is only going to make it look bad. So, I guess. Okay. How long have you worked here? The company or the store in particular? The store. Uh, Jim was saying I think 9 months. Okay. And what is your position here? Assistant store manager. At any time, have you stolen anything from the store or acted in a way to allow someone else to receive goods, services from the store? Obviously, the latter is why you're here. Okay. The suspect seemed to regret her actions and took full responsibility. However, she still claimed she was doing it for a friend that was in need and not for her own gain monetarily. Once again, it seemed like the so-called friends were the ones instigating the scheme. Unfortunately, to my bleeding heart generosity for this person that's claiming to have been my friend, and I'm like an adopted sister, I regretfully aborted transactions on the selfch checkout for him and let him have it, which is now costing my job and putting my family in jeopardy because I was being concerned about somebody else. Do you want to identify this individual? Do I have to identify him? I mean, do you have his face plastered all over the camera right there? This is part of the cooperate cooperating with us. And look, the course of where this goes is going to depend on the information you're providing. Yes. Because this isn't as simple as you're taking something out of the store. Even though you didn't retain anything, I still assisted in it. And there's there's two people involved there. Okay. Yes, sir. Whatever I can do to help you. Only I'm not saying you're not going to be in trouble. No, I know I'm going to be in trouble. Just to save me from having to be arrested is what I would like to avoid right now. Even though the officer couldn't promise her she wouldn't get arrested. She ended up identifying the culprit as Jean, a 6'200-lb balding man. On that particular day, they didn't arrest the woman because the detectives needed more time to build a case. A couple days later, though, at the very same store, they did pick up Jean. Jean, are you Jean? Did you come over here and start talking? I guess I'm getting arrested because the I don't even know what I did at Dollar General. Okay. Do you have any idea on you? Yes. I said, I'm getting arrested. Are you talking to me or you talking to the person on the phone? I'm talking to the person on the phone. I'm talking to my mother. Okay. Do you mind talking to me first? I'll call you back. Okay. I was here earlier. Yes. You are suspected in several thefts. How was I expecting theft? I don't remember. I'm not aware of hearing anything cuz everything I know I get I paid for. You are suspected in several thefts. Okay. It is being investigated. Okay. They do want to pursue charges. Honestly, my honest opinion, I don't like you guys. I hate you guys. A lot of people do. Gene wasn't as forthcoming as his partner in crime. The officer told him he was being trespassed from the store and also informed him that he'd soon be contacted by detectives. After more than a month went by, enough evidence was gathered and it was time for the handcuffs to come out. Is it is it because of my former job? It's a it's schemed to defraud warrant. So you have a She has two kids in the back. Okay. Wait. Like I said, we can do this over here as long as she cooperates. Okay. What? All right. I'll I'll explain it to you in a second. Okay. So, just give me a second if you want to do this over here. Okay. I understand. We'll do this over here. Okay. And I'll explain it to you here in a second. Hold on. All right. Are you kidding me? So, you know what this is about? Yes. I told you to be honest with me. I didn't know what to do at Should I help somebody? What are you doing? Here's the thing. I don't know what the case entails, but it's a scheme to defraud. That's all I know. All I know is what the charge is. I don't know what the case entails or the specifics like that. She can probably tell you more than I could say. You always told you wasn't going to Okay. What What the secret bull you got running, bro? With two kids here, I'm running a company and you're What? What in God's name is happening right now? Jess's husband had every right to get angry. While his wife might have been trying to do something good, she had still broken the law. Their family ties to the military and law enforcement just made this situation more difficult. Not to mention, she blatantly lied about it. Military family, law enforcement family. I wanted to handle this before it really handle it. How? By not by not I wanted to get it taken care of so you didn't have to get involved. What am I going to tell my what what am I going to tell my family now? What am I going to say? What? What the are you doing? Let me go get the kids inside, bro. I don't care. After we're done with this, you're going to your mom. I'm running a business. I'm running a business. I work full time. I take care of two kids and you got cops out here out of my house. I bought you that vehicle. I have mine and that one in the yard. What are you thinking? Let me toy, please. What are you thinking? Yeah, what was she thinking? It's not like she could have solved Jean's problems by giving him free stuff. In the end, she was charged with scheme to defraud. Thanks for joining me in exploring these very dumb managers who decided to break bad. Let us know what you think about their sentences and if they were appropriate for the crimes. Make sure to join us next time when we uncover more hidden files.