Former Saline Country Market manager accused of embezzling more than $81,000
For years, Angela McKenzie worked alongside police anytime the Saline Country Market caught a shoplifter, received a bad check or had a suspicious situation.
Now the former store manager is the target of criminal prosecution after company officials uncovered an elaborate embezzlement scheme that netted more than $81,000 over three years, police said.
A former manager at Saline Country Market is accused of embezzlement.
Art Aisner | For AnnArbor.com
A warrant charging McKenzie, 46, with one count of embezzlement of between $50,000 and $100,000 was signed by a magistrate Friday. Police said the South Lyon woman has an attorney and will be given the opportunity to turn herself in for arraignment, which is a fairly typical practice in embezzlement cases.
While testifying for the warrant in 15th District Court Friday, Saline Detective Don Lupi said the scam involved lottery ticket earnings and store refunds for groceries that were never returned.
Emptying the store lottery machine was among McKenzie’s regular duties, Lupi said. But on certain days, she would take portions of the earnings and then cash out the exact amount taken as a grocery return to avoid detection, he said.
Police reports said she also disposed of the lottery machine reports so supervisors could never verify the exact amount in the machine at the time the thefts occurred.
But in August, an employee noticed an unusually large grocery return for just under $200 and discovered no merchandise totaling that amount was received. Company officials reviewed records for several previous years and found further discrepancies on the days the lottery machine was emptied, police reports said. Investigators were able to pinpoint the exact days, time shift and cash registers used to defraud the store.
All the evidence pointed to McKenzie, who took $81,287 between December 2007 and last September, Lupi said. It’s unclear whether the money was spent and for what purpose.
“Given what I’ve seen in my career I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed,” Lupi said. “We’ve worked with Angela for years. She was like a police liaison for the store.”
McKenzie initially agreed to be interviewed by investigators, but her attorney, Jeff Bennett, balked and urged any further contact be made through him, reports said. Bennett did not return messages seeking comment Friday.
Local store officials deferred comment to corporate officials, who could not be immediately reached.
If convicted, McKenzie faces up to 15 years in prison and fines between $25,000 or up to three times the amount embezzled, court records show.
Art Aisner is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.
Comments
salinemarket
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 10:37 p.m.
Well, $81,000 dollars or more is missing? Someone took it? Where was the store manager,where was the district manager, where was the corporate office people. She was just a department manager. $81,000 or more missing a lot of people should be fired. Starting with the store manager or who ever was in charge of her for the 3 years. 3 years went by and no one noticed about 30,000 a year missing? "store refunds for groceries that were never returned large grocery return for just under $200" The Store Manager was not doing the job if returns of this was going on for 3 years. "disposed of the lottery machine reports so supervisors could never verify the exact amount in the machine at the time the thefts occurred." Who was not checking up on the womans work? WOW! Looks like they need to clean house at that store and fire some people that was not doing the job.
Gorc
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 7:25 p.m.
If you can't do the time....don't do the crime (dant da dant, dant da dant).
Nicole
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 6:03 p.m.
Why do people assume she is guilty right away, she has only been charged not convited! Why would a woman that worked there for so long jeopardize her job and life along with her family for $81000? If she worked that for that long and really wanted to make steal money i would think she would have taken a hell of a lot more.
Pizza Man
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 1:10 p.m.
Scooter Dog... I used to work for a Pizza place in Ann Arbor. There was a women that was in charge of keeping the books. After she quit, the company found out that she had stolen $50,000! I think these kinds of things go unchecked for a while. They were unable to go after the women that stole $50,000. In the restaurant business it is common to "cook the books" a little. She helped them do so and this is why they couldn't go after her.
Bob Needham
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 10:11 a.m.
(comment removed that was off topic and contained unsubstantiated accusations)
Greggy_D
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 8:38 a.m.
You really want the.gov to have that much access and control over your money? No thanks.
Soothslayer
Tue, Nov 2, 2010 : 8:04 a.m.
We need to get rid of cash altogether and move towards a Federal credit/debit card world with PIN & thumbprint ID. Cash can stolen, lost, forged and is much more difficult to track. You can send individuals funds via PayPal. Any suspicious transfers and activity can be tracked to the source/perps. Where is crime without cash? How does someone traffic drugs, unload stolen goods or pay for illegal services? Getting rid of cash is a cheap/safe way to lock down crime. No more armored transports, treasury costs (to produce/manage currency), exchange issues, worry of robbery, etc. Go "cold turkey" and make the process take 5 years, after which the curency is worthless (e.g EURO conversion). The solution is obvious and the future of our monetary system.
DBH
Mon, Nov 1, 2010 : 9:43 p.m.
Townie54: I read the story. From what I can tell (and I believe it is very clear), she is charged with a crime based solely (so far) on strong (as I had stated earlier) circumstantial evidence. She has not been convicted no matter how strong (you may think) the evidence may be. That is why we have a presumption of innocence. I expect there are many criminal attorneys that could cite case after case of people charged with crimes based on "overwhelming" evidence that were found not guilty at trial.
townie54
Mon, Nov 1, 2010 : 8:47 p.m.
your right scooter.The hockey embezzler is gonna be free soon.And all you other people,the evidence is pretty overwhelming even if she isnt convicted yet.Read the story
scooter dog
Mon, Nov 1, 2010 : 6:55 p.m.
Up to 15 years,your dreaming. With the courts we have she'll be walking the streets on probation. My question is why did it take years to uncover the theft,doesent country market do yearly audits. In todays economy your wise NOT to trust anyone. Very sad,but very true
Kristine
Mon, Nov 1, 2010 : 6:36 p.m.
I love this store and buy my groceries there almost exclusively. I'm sorry to hear that this kind of 'situation' has been uncovered.
Cash
Mon, Nov 1, 2010 : 6:33 p.m.
As of now she is innocent. She's not been on trial yet for heavens sake.
classof81
Mon, Nov 1, 2010 : 6:03 p.m.
It is hard, but we as a society must always presume innocence. if a conviction is reached we also must allow her childen and family to continue on unincombered with their normal activities. With all of these stories of women (Scully woman from Manchester and the hockey mom Chelsea among others) i just have to wonder if local non profit orginizations should have have better oversite on all of their accounting practices.
DBH
Mon, Nov 1, 2010 : 5:33 p.m.
All of the previous comments presume guilt which has not yet been proven. While the circumstantial evidence appears strong, I do not understand why commenters are commenting under the presumption of guilt rather than the presumption of innocence. Chide her, feel sorry for her or her family all you want once a conviction is obtained (if such a conviction should be obtained). Until then, this is a report of someone charged with a crime, not convicted of one.
michiganexpats.com
Mon, Nov 1, 2010 : 5:05 p.m.
"McKenzie faces up to 15 years in prison" for $81,000! Not worth it. Sad story all in all.
Elaine F. Owsley
Mon, Nov 1, 2010 : 3:39 p.m.
This kind of theft has been seen too often in the past few years and usually involves women. Is there a course being offered somewhere that these ladies are taking? How sad for all their families.
lisam
Mon, Nov 1, 2010 : 3:23 p.m.
I agree Michael O. I feel for the family. I often wonder how someone who does that type of "thing" can sleep at night. I personally know two people who did it and one now lives out of state (living a good life), and the other basically got away with it too. However, the betrayal felt by their friends/co-workers is something they will never forget.
uawisok
Mon, Nov 1, 2010 : 3:21 p.m.
Unfortunate...she could make a great Wall Street banker....Goldman Sachs could use her as a trainer!!
Michael O
Mon, Nov 1, 2010 : 2:49 p.m.
You always get caught...and now her life is ruined.My heart goes out to her family,especially her children,if she has any...