Ah yes, the IRS.

The one organization that proves to be worse than the German Nazis of WWII.

"The one organization that proves to be worse than the German Nazis of WWII"

What does that mean in English ?

"I work used to work for the IRS."

I doubt he'll be working for the IRS much longer.

What does that mean in English ?

That dude was audited? Or had his paintings stolen and put in a castle somewhere, and then had American soldiers start a blood pact over them.

Could be either, really.

Though I'm amazed Godwin happed so fast in this thread

...aaaaaaand Godwinned. In the lead-off post!

How can you get credit for stolen items? If you didn't buy them, you can't get credit for them. This is America, goddamnnit!

skinink

I used to think people like that were extremely stupid, but my sister did returns for a short while at a WalMart and was told by another store member that often they hope to make enough of a fuss, that a manager comes out and just makes the returns person okay the return without hearing what's actually happened. (Because it's not very likely to get it past an employee)

Dooley allegedly stole more than $330,000 from the home improvement chain by returning stolen goods for the credit cards... Dooley stole more than 300 items from Home Depot stores...

$330,000 / 300 = $1,100 per item, average

I don't know about you, but if someone wanted to return an item that's over a thousand bucks, I'd really want to see a receipt. What was he stealing? Appliances? Wouldn't someone notice?

Also, I would expect such an item to have an inventory control tag. Did the guy take those off, or is Home Depot really sloppy with their merchandise?

If the guy is in state prison for the same crimes why are the Feds prosecuting him on a trumped up wire fraud charge?

"I work for the IRS and you can take target practice on me."

Hilary T. N. Seuss: $330,000 / 300 = $1,100 per item, average


it's "more than" 300

5000 is more than 300

Hilary T. N. Seuss: I don't know about you, but if someone wanted to return an item that's over a thousand bucks, I'd really want to see a receipt. What was he stealing? Appliances? Wouldn't someone notice?

Also, I would expect such an item to have an inventory control tag. Did the guy take those off, or is Home Depot really sloppy with their merchandise?

They did, hence the article.

Nearly every store now keeps everything you do in a database. You buy something with a credit card? Database. You use a frequent shopper card? Database. Buy a gift card with a credit card? Database. Return stuff? Database+address+credit card+frequent shopper card+what you buy

Your store knows a lot about you. And yes, they sell that information :)

But is he really getting a kick out of these replies?

Unlikely indeed.

If anyone knows about theft, it's someone from the IRS.

Home Depot is a perfect example of "fool me twice". A few years ago another ring was busted putting fake bar codes on items, buying them at a lower price, and then returning them without a receipt for cash. They also made hundreds of thousands of dollars, and HD never caught them until an employee noticed them switching tags.

HD may keep everything in a database, but they're too dumb to pick up patterns of fraud that are costing them millions.

I was in a Home Depot last week returning an item, and while I was standing in line at the returns desk, I noticed a note written in big letters taped above the return register. It said "2 Makita Power Grinders are missing from inventory. If someone tries to return them without a receipt, call the police immediately!"

This note was posted so that anyone walking up to the registers would have seen it and had ample time to run back out the door with their Makita power grinders. You'd think they'd post notices like that so only the employees could see them.

Lehk
it's "more than" 300
5000 is more than 300

I just knew that somebody was going to respond with a smart-alec comment like that. And yet, I posted anyway! :)

Tax season just seems more hectic every year. IRS employees are working harder than ever, and we appreciate that. If you are an IRS employee, please take a moment out of your busy schedule to unwind and relax. And what could be energizing than spending a few days tweaking on methamphetamines? We know you love your jobs serving the American people but take a moment and get yourselves hooked on meth. You deserve it.

FTFA:
He was charged Thursday with 12 counts of wire fraud in connection with the scam.

The wire fraud charges stem from the fact that each time Dooley returned an item he had not purchased, store credit information was transmitted by wire and stored electronically in a Home Depot computer server.

Wire fraud? That's all they could get him on? I ain't no attorney, but seems to me, he didn't perform the "wire" part of the transaction. I'm sure a skilled shyster lawyer could easily get those dismissed.

Shouldn't the prosecutor be throwing heavier things into the mix as well? Theft by deception comes to mind. That's what most prosecutors do: throw in every conceivable charge and see which ones stick.

Why are you all still posting. The Godwin hath spoken and the topic is over.

The wire fraud charges stem from the fact that each time Dooley returned an item he had not purchased, store credit information was transmitted by wire and stored electronically in a Home Depot computer server.

I returned a DVD and told the video store that the movie was unwatchable. There wasn't anything wrong with the DVD, I just wanted a credit.

I won't do it again, I could get 20 years for wire fraud.

/maybe just a slap on the wrist, it was "Miami Vice"

Also, the guys returning crap that didn't come from the store, probably got it from a dumpster. Stores have to break up any merchandise or packaging they throw out, because thieves will try to return it if they don't.

Anomalocaris:
I used to think people like that were extremely stupid, but my sister did returns for a short while at a WalMart and was told by another store member that often they hope to make enough of a fuss, that a manager comes out and just makes the returns person okay the return without hearing what's actually happened. (Because it's not very likely to get it past an employee)

Which is exactly what happens in my line of work (computer retail). Managers, who are the ones emphasizing that employees must follow returns policies, get called out front because a jackass customer wants to return something a year past the returns date. Said manager will allow the return in most cases, just to get rid of the jackass. Thereby making themselves look like "the good guy" and reinforcing the customer's asshattery.

*sigh*

wal-mart is so easy to do that from.
get something.
return it for store credit = smokes, beer, gas.

Nice to see that the extensive background checks at the IRS are doing so much good. I worked for them as a data entry temp, and they had to have records of everywhere I'd worked or lived for the past five years with someone they could call to confirm the information. Good lord was it dumb.

Then, because I was entering the tax checks, I worked in a room where you couldn't bring in books, bags that weren't clear, coats, etc, lest you hide a check in them. Nevermind that 1) pockets; 2) checks had US TREASURY stamped on them in huge red letters. Brilliant!

And then, they took until March to send me my W-2.

Waiting for jokes about taking Mexicans back to Home Depot.

Hi, I'd like to return this Bugatti Veyron...

ornithopter: Then, because I was entering the tax checks, I worked in a room where you couldn't bring in books, bags that weren't clear, coats, etc, lest you hide a check in them. Nevermind that 1) pockets; 2) checks had US TREASURY stamped on them in huge red letters. Brilliant!

The trick is to hide the checks in the laptops you can easily liberate from places like that.

I work for HomeDepot so I'm getting a kick out of these replies...

90% of our thieves are crackheads or the shady contractor that's in our store 3-4 times a week and decides he deserves his own "frequent shopper discount". The other 10% are pros who steal for a living or have some sort of shoplifting compulsion/illness. The compulsive ones rarely return their stuff (money's not their motivation, and when caught always have the money to pay for the stuff right in their wallet/purse). With the compulsion ones I've seen everything from sweet little ole ladies to a naval officer in uniform shopping with his kids. We don't see as many of the ones who steal to pay their mortgage anymore because our software does track everything now and new policies from the last year or two cuts them off too soon for it to be worth their time and effort. We just get the occasional ring that comes in 3 or 4 at a time and runs out with the stuff, and those dummies are generally found at the closest swap meet.

/Yes we have tag switchers too. FYI dear, do not come straight from work at the TomKat club to buy 3 high end exterior doors for $34.32. All the guys are already staring at you, they're gonna notice the discrepancy.

You must have Javascript and Cookies enabled on your Web browser to view MaineToday.com pages.

The site showed me the article for about 2 seconds before it displayed that message, thereby proving that I don't technically need those things to view the article text. They just want to force me to allow them run scripts and set cookies, for some reason. Probably for a reason that I wouldn't like if I knew what it was.

/not returning to that site ever again

what's the difference between the IRS and a hooker?

the hooker will stop farking you when you're dead.

Hay - I was just at the Reading Home Depot.

/didn't steal anything

Yeah, the background checks are pretty piss poor in government.


Former White House Aide Is Arrested on Theft Charges
Published on Saturday, March 11, 2006 by the New York Times
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0311-02.htm (pops)
WASHINGTON - A former top White House aide was arrested on Thursday in the Maryland suburbs on charges that he stole merchandise from a number of retailers, the police in Montgomery County, Md., said Friday.

The former aide, Claude A. Allen, 45, was President Bush's top domestic policy adviser until resigning last month. Known as a rising conservative star, he previously served as deputy secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, and in 2003 the White House announced its intention to nominate him to a seat on the federal appeals court based in Richmond, Va. Democrats raised questions about the nomination, and it never came to a vote.

The police said Mr. Allen was seen on Jan. 2 leaving a department store in Gaithersburg, Md., with merchandise for which he had not paid. He was apprehended by a store employee and issued a misdemeanor citation for theft, said Lt. Eric Burnett, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Police Department.

A statement issued on Friday by the police said store employees saw Mr. Allen fill a shopping bag with merchandise and put additional items into a shopping cart. He then sought, and received, a refund for some of the items and left the store without paying for others.

The Police Department said that as a result of an investigation it opened after the initial incident in January, it found that Mr. Allen had received refunds of more than $5,000 last year at stores like Target and Hecht's. Mr. Allen was arrested on Thursday and charged in connection with a series of allegedly fraudulent returns. The police said he was charged with a theft scheme over $500 and theft over $500.

"He would buy items, take them out to his car and return to the store with the receipt," the police said in the statement. "He would select the same items he had just purchased and then return them for a refund."

Mr. Allen was released on his own recognizance, the police said.

Mr. Allen's lawyer, Mallon Snyder, said: "We deny that Claude Allen took anything from a Target store or any other department store. We would welcome an opportunity to meet with Target store personnel to explain the confusion. Once they have an opportunity to examine the record, these charges will be dropped."

Mr. Snyder said that Mr. Allen had returned merchandise to the Target store on several occasions, but that "there was no impropriety."

Mr. Allen was the secretary of health and human resources for the State of Virginia when he was chosen by Mr. Bush in 2001 for the No. 2 job at the federal Health and Human Services Department. Last year, he was named as top domestic policy adviser in the White House.

Mr. Allen went to the White House after his nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit stalled in the Senate. The nomination never came to a vote, in part because some Democrats raised questions about comments he had made in 1984, while working for Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina. He had been quoted as saying that Mr. Helms's opponent that year was vulnerable because his campaign could be "linked with the queers." He later apologized and said he had not intended his words to be a slur against gay men and lesbians.

The White House announced on Feb. 9 that Mr. Allen was resigning as Mr. Bush's domestic policy adviser.

Asked about the charge against Mr. Allen, Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, said, "If it is true, no one would be more shocked and more outraged than the president."
[more at website]



Former Top Bush Aide Accused of Md. Thefts
Refund Scam Netted $5,000, Police Say
By Ernesto Londoño and Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, March 11, 2006; A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/10/AR200603100232 8_pf.html (pops)

// Just one more vile Republican crook in a vile treasonous criminal band of amoral fake-Christian thieves.

i work for home depot so i'm getting a kick out of these replies...

i fail to see how this guy managed to get the store credit by flashing his IRS badge. to receive a store credit a customer must have their drivers license or a valid passport. we log the customer by the license and after a while people get on the list that require manager overrides to get the credit (the manager reviews the logged items returned and the amounts in dollars of how much the customer has received). after so many of these logged returns without a receipt the computer refuses to issue a credit. home depot understands that people lose the receipts or need to turn them in to their boss but we work around that by allowing the computer to use a credit or debit card or even a checking account number to search that account for recent purchases and find the receipt in the computer system (though i say recent because it only searches up to 90 days or less). as always, cash leaves no trail so there's no way to search down that receipt in the computer system.

go2pedro
you bring up valid points about those contractors who feel they ought to be compensated for spending "15,000 a month" in the store.

IRS agent stealing? I assume he was on the clock.