Are you in? Yes. Come with me outside. Please, I can't. She's got another little purse. It's got a lot of cash in it, too. $15,000. How do you explain that? I don't know what you're saying. Well, what is it? A pill. My friend gave it to me for my knee. Why is she giving you Advil for knee pain? There's a couple stacks we got to go through. Stealing doesn't always start with a mask and a gun. Sometimes it starts with a login and a shortcut at the register. [music] Over 3 years, a quiet cashier allegedly turned canceled orders into her own private income stream while her boss watched the numbers bleed. By the time she rolled into work that [music] morning, driving on a suspended license and sitting on a pile of cash, this was never going to end cleanly. Morning. Hello. Yeah. Who just pulled What employee just got here? Who Who just walked through the door? I Are you in? Yes. Come with me outside. Getting walked outside [music] at the start of a shift is not a conversation. It's a verdict warming up. Thank you. Do you have your ID on you? And your driver's license? Do you have a license? How did you get to work? I drove. All right. Hold on. Don't go anywhere. What is this about? 2913, can you put me on a 10-50 at 234 Douglas Ave? Let's go to your car. Do you have any weapons on you or anything? No guns, knives, anything crazy? We're going to search Yeah, it's going to be Florida tag. Alpha X-ray 43 uniform kilo, uh white Explorer. Why don't you have a license? Uh it's been suspen- uh suspended. >> I'll go look it up, but just tell me. >> Yeah. From Jersey. Suspended in another state is one of those problems people pretend is paused right up until it shows up in the parking lot. Your car's secure. No, I'm going to go back. Can you trade with me? What happened? I don't know. I'm at work. He came in to get me at work. What? I don't I don't know. You have no license. Oh, is that why y'all stopping me? I was inside already. Please. Well, we watched you pull up driving, you know. It doesn't matter if you were inside. >> victims the other day where I need Airbnb. I need to work. You're a victim of the storm? No. No. My own personal stuff. It is my job. Okay. Well, I mean, we can see if you had any uh tickets recently. Uh no. How long's your license been no good? Uh Have you ever had a license? Yeah. Okay. I mean, my daughter has her license. >> Yeah. Is that Is this her car? Yeah. Okay. What's your license suspended for? I don't even remember now. It's from Jersey. Okay. Is it like just like speeding tickets or is it a DUI or >> Uh I can't remember right now. No, no DUI. >> So, Florida won't give you a license cuz in New Jersey you're suspended. All right. Well, let my partner get back and he'll do some research and could just uh be a citation, but I can't promise anything, so. Okay. I'll have my daughter come get the car, please. Her biggest worry is still the car, not the pattern that brought the officers there in the first place. I'm I'm not going to tow her or anything. Um you're cooperative, so. You work here? Yeah. Okay. Can I know what's going on? Yeah, we're just waiting for Can you take your bag off? Why am I being arrested? Cuz you got no license driving. Please, I can't. Put your knuckles together. A textbook level example of how confidence fades [music] when the situation stops listening. Oh my god. You said you have a family member that can come get the car. Yeah. Do you know their number or you need to dial your phone? Uh I need uh No uh no visual weapons or anything, right? >> [snorts] >> No. I'm going to use the back of my hand and pat your pockets down. Okay. She's got another little uh purse on the passenger seat. It's got a lot of cash in it, too, so. But I left it there for now. Did you read her her I can't. Hello. Good. Um I'm a detective with [clears throat] the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Um I work in the economic crimes unit of the Sheriff's Office, okay? Um so, I have some things that I need to talk to you about. But before I do that, I'm going to read you your rights, okay? Have you ever been arrested before? No. Nothing really major. Well, it's just like the movies. All right. Do you understand that you have a right to remain silent? Yes. Do you understand that anything you say can and will be used against I exercise my right to not answer any questions or make any statements. Yes. Do you understand each of these rights that I've explained to you? Yes. And then having these rights in mind, do you wish to speak with me? Yes. When the detective sits down and reads rights just like the movies, this stops being about a traffic stop and [music] becomes about a balance sheet. So, I'm here to talk to you about your employment here with Um how long have you been working About 5 years. 5 years. Do you have any idea why I would be speaking with you? No. Okay. And what is your Do you a waitress or department Um now, and I I I want you to be completely honest with me, okay? It's It's certainly not the end of the world. Um but there's obviously some serious stuff that we got to talk about. Um but I'll be honest with you if you're honest with me, okay? All right. Which will go a long way help you out a lot further, okay? Um now, when you have you ever taken any cash out of the register? No. No. No. Uh we collect people now. Okay. Have you ever changed any orders and canceled any out and taken cash out of the register? No. Okay. So, remember when I said be honest with me, okay? That's that's what we need here is honesty, okay? Cuz there's going to be some things that you're going to have to explain. And if you're not going to be honest with me, then it's So, my next question, how do you explain the number of canceled items that you have just in the last year compared to your coworkers, I can't. which are very significant. So, your coworkers have only had about $1,200 in canceled items. Yours are in $15,000. What's that explanation? How do you explain that? $15,000 in canceled items versus $1,200 for everyone else is not bad luck. It is a fingerprint in spreadsheet form. Uh Honesty is important here, okay? Yeah, no. I I I've already I already talked to everyone I need to. I know the answers to a lot of the questions I'm asking, which is why I'm asking you to be honest with Okay? There's documentation. Okay? There's There's evidence that supports what we're saying, okay? So, explain to me that difference. Is it a financial problem? Is it something that can be explained? I mean, are you just >> I know I put mine in and then, you know, canceled stuff, but last year I don't know. And if it's Listen, just just be honest with me and and explain if it's That's what I'm talking about. You have your own financial problems, right? >> knew I was going to be I am, but But listen, but you saw an opportunity, thought maybe, "Okay, this will This will help. I'll just do it once." Okay, and then, you know what? It did help, but now I have this going on. Let me do it twice. And then it just gets out of hand and gets away from us. We all make mistakes like that. Okay? The big part is owning up to it so that we can move beyond it and move past it. The detective practically hands her a lifeline. Did a one-time fix turn into a habit, and she still tries to outrun the obvious. I don't know what to say now. We'll try. Give it a try. If I'm totally off base, that's not what it is. I I'd rather know the truth. I'd rather know what's really going on. Certainly don't think you're a bad person. I think times are tough for a lot of people right now. And sometimes opportunities present themselves and we're really desperate. You know, we we do what we have what we think we have to do. Especially with all the times. I don't know if you were affected by the storm storms. I don't [laughter] know if there's other stuff going on. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know what's happening yet. I'm good. Um where is this going? I It's not I I just wanted to ask her. So, if that's what's happening, then we can move to the next step and move move forward and move past it. Yeah, we can move forward cuz So, is that what's Is that what's happening? Um I need a lawyer. Okay. I don't All right. Asking for a lawyer after denying everything is the moment the story finally [music] admits it can't keep up with the evidence. Um so, you said earlier that your your license was suspended up in Jersey. Yeah. What for, do you remember? I'm sorry. What for, do you remember? I don't. I'm sorry. Was it like tickets, DUI? Uh no DUI. Was it like child support or something like that? No, it was I Like it's got to be something that you did or something happened or yeah. Just give me an idea. I think uh not going to court. So, you missed a court date and they suspended it. Okay. Yeah. But what is it? Um a pill. I know that, but like what kind of pill? >> Um I don't know. My friend gave it to me for my knee. All right. Give me a second. I just found something in her in her purse. >> Okay. Yeah, I'll I'll tell you what. It's Adderall. Do you have a prescription for it? No. Why would she give you Adderall for knee pain? Uh I don't know if that was the right one or not. I think >> Then you think she gave you the wrong one? Yeah. Well, I asked her the uh last time she gave me a white one. I think it was uh I I don't I don't know. All right. Okay. An unprescribed pill in her belongings turns a just trying to work narrative into a mess of little side crimes catching up at once. So, this is how much we're putting in her property and it's going to the jail. Here. Never do that. Let's do it. There's only a couple of us or a couple of them. 1 2 I'm just going to do these single dollar bills. There's my There's my old days calling money again. 15 16 17 18 19. What's the deal? 19 smackers. All right, there's one. There's a couple stacks we got to go through. I don't know cuz I know I'll lose them mixing them up. Watching them count stack after stack of cash is the visual proof that whatever she thought she was hiding has already been totaled. 20 40 60 315? You want to count it? I'm good. All right. So, let me just count. 5 10 15 Okay, let's get all this [ __ ] 98 What? I like that too. Leave it in the car. What change? All right, yeah. What is that? That's okay. Oops. Well, I got to go through this double check cuz I just found a pill in the envelope, so that's why. Okay. What's that? >> Is it traffic from the detective? Yeah, the possession and then she's got a couple like uh fraud charges from the detective. By the time traffic, possession, fraud, embezzlement all land in the same sentence, the idea this was just about a ride to work is gone for good. In the end, her life gets boiled down to three lines: driving on a suspended license, possession of paraphernalia, and a stack of fraud and embezzlement counts still waiting their turn. These stories always end the same way. And if you want to recognize when just getting by has already crossed into criminal territory, subscribe and watch how these charge sheets keep repeating.