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Boardman police investigating $200K theft from business
BOARDMAN
A woman who reportedly admitted to stealing approximately $200,000 from her company said she needed the money because she’s been “living beyond [her] means.”
That’s according to a police report filed Tuesday by the corporate treasurer for a home-alarm company with a location on Market Street.
The treasurer from State Alarm Inc. told police while looking through financial records last week, she noticed a check for $5,793.56 had been made out to an employee.
The treasurer “knew this was a mistake and upon further review discovered that [the employee] had overpaid herself by $4,500,” according to the report.
After looking through payroll checks dating back to 2013, the treasurer reportedly discovered the employee in question had been overpaying herself the last four years.
The thefts reportedly started out about $1,400, “but soon exceeded $4,000” at a time, according to the report.
In total, the employee is believed to have embezzled “no less than $200,000.”
When confronted about the apparent thefts, the suspect reportedly told the treasurer, “My family needs it. I’ve been living beyond my means.”
The report notes the suspect earns $15.25 per hour and has worked at State Alarm since 2007.
Donald Shury, president of State Alarm who has owned the business since 1973, said Wednesday he was “very disappointed” about what happened.
“It’s a tragedy. Not for me, but that she did this to her fellow employees,” Shury said.
“What she did is she cheated all of her fellow employees.”
Shury said it was disheartening someone would do this, especially since the employee had what he described as “an awful good job” with “a very livable wage with full benefits.”
The employee has since been fired, Shury said.
Her name was redacted from the police report as she had not been charged.
Under state law, a theft of that amount is a third-degree felony offense that could result in one to five years of prison time and a fine of up to $10,000.