Thursday, November 11, 2010

Cos Cob's Mobil Manager Charged with Fleecing $115,000

I've been to this station numerous times, the guy was always super friendly... Sad thing to have happened. = [
STAMFORD -- A 45-year-old store manager allegedly stole nearly $115,000 from a Greenwich gas station by recording fraudulent lottery payouts and expense account purchases and pocketing the cash over several years, court records show.

Thomas Milne, of Bridgeport, appeared in state Superior Court in Stamford Wednesday after being arrested in June by an investigator working for the state Division of Special Revenue, which regulates gambling in Connecticut. He was charged with first-degree larceny, a major felony.

Court documents show the former owner of the Cos Cob Mobil on East Putnam Avenue approached a Division of Special Revenue investigator in April because he suspected an employee stole funds from the lottery account at the station, which he sold in February.

An audit of gas station records revealed a large discrepancy between the amount of money being reported by two different inventory and daily-sales tracking systems. The audit showed the daily funds recorded in one system were less than the amounts recorded in the other.

Between 2006 and 2010, the store lost an average of $300 to $500 each day.

Milne, the manager of the gas station since 2000, was the only employee with access to the store's daily-sales tracking software and was also responsible for data entry, records show. All other employees denied stealing money from store accounts and told authorities only Milne used the computer.

In May, the state investigator met with Milne and asked him about the accounting discrepancies. The store manager admitted to increasing the reported amounts by about $300 each and then removing cash from the store cash deposit or expense accounts, records show.

Milne admitted to stealing an estimated $115,000 from the store since 2005, saying he used the money to pay his mortgage and to meet other financial obligations, authorities said. He is free after posting $75,000 bond.

No comments: