Man, 22, accused of theft

Staff report

BOARDMAN

A 22-year-old township man is accused of stealing from his employer.

Joseph A. Palumbo, a cashier at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store on Market Street, was charged with felony theft Tuesday, police said.

Reports state that the store’s loss-prevention officer had been investigating an ongoing internal theft since January 2010 involving Palumbo and another employee, and that more than $2,000 was missing from the store.

The loss-prevention officer told police that the two employees would make fraudulent returns in the store during work hours, scanning an existing customer receipt to initiate the transaction and then pocketing the money taken from the register, according to reports.

Police said Palumbo cooperated with them. The second employee implicated in the theft recently had transferred to another Jo-Ann store in Connecticut, reports state.