Worker arrested in theft of $10,000 from Canteen Services

BOARDMAN — A Mineral Ridge man is to return to court next month for a preliminary hearing, accused of taking money from his employer.

Albert Akins Jr., 53, of Webb Road, was charged with felony theft and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.

His preliminary hearing was set for Feb. 24 in Mahoning County Area Court.

Akins was interviewed Friday by police after the owner of Canteen Services, South Avenue, reported an employee theft.

The company had surveillance photos that showed Akins removing a money bag from a locked locker and concealing it in his coat, a police report said. After being confronted with that, Akins acknowledged that he began stealing money back in 2007 but said he paid it back, the report said.

Akins then said he stole money from the company’s vending and change machines beginning in January 2008 because of financial problems at home. He said he would change the meter reading on each machine to cover the amount of money he took. The meter accounted for total sales and change made on each machine, the police report said.

When Detective Ben Switka told Akins that since last January, the company’s total loss on Akins’ route was $10,513, Akins said that sounded about right but that he wasn’t sure of the exact total, the report said.

The money bag taken from the business Friday was found in Akins’ car and Akins also admitted that he had a marijuana pipe and a small bag containing marijuana in the car’s ashtray.

Akins was released after posting bond.