Anatomy of a Coffee Crime

Downtown/Fri Sept 17/3:00 pm: Of the many crimes that have challenged the daring "protection consultant" for Starbucks (David R. Wilson), none have been more incredible, more staggering, more blatant than this case of broad-daylight embezzlement that took place at one of the coffee store's downtown outlets. It all began when Wilson noticed that an unusually high number of "partner beverages" (which are the free beverages employees are entitled to) had been rung into the cash register. On average, a store will have five partner beverage entries per day, but at this particular outlet there were up to 93 on certain days.

Wilson began his methodical investigation and soon discovered that not only was the number of partner beverages high, but so was the number of refills (which cost 55 cents and are rung up when a customer returns with an empty cup). The scam, he surmised, was this: A customer walks into the store to buy a beverage, which averages between $2 and $3. But some sly employee instead rings the sale up as either a partner beverage or a refill -- which costs only 55 measly cents -- and then pockets the extra money.

The next step was for Wilson to perform an "integrity test" on the employees at the downtown store. This involved his pretending to be a customer buying a "Tall Americano" for $2, so as to secretly observe who the honest and dishonest employees were. It didn't take long for him to determine the culprit, and he called the police.

Officer Christopher G. Hall and his partner, Robert L. Marlow, arrived the same afternoon and arrested the suspect. Officer Hall asked her if she understood what was happening to her. She said she did. Officer Marlow checked her wallet and found it to be packed with cash (almost $400!). Officer Hall then asked the woman how long she had been skimming, or more accurately, gorging money from the till. "Since February," she replied coolly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, embezzling large sums of money from Starbucks. Trying to get closer to the heart of her crime, Officer Hall asked approximately how much she had taken from the company. "About $11,000," she reckoned. He then asked how much she would take on a daily basis. "$200 to $300 a day," she said. "$1,500 to $2,000 a week."

Officer Hall did some quick math and realized that if she had been taking $1,500 a week since February, then in fact she had stolen somewhere near $40,000! That's more than most hard-working cops earn yearly in this town! She said she must have overestimated the weekly take. The officer asked her why she stole so much money. Did she have a child she needed to feed? Was her mother dying of cancer? "I used the money for drugs," she answered candidly, which was as good a reason as any.

The somber but calm employee was led to a police car, placed in the back seat, and transported to the West Precinct for processing. At the precinct, her situation only worsened as the cops discovered she had 3.5 grams of marijuana and a pipe in her backpack. "Is this yours?" the cop asked. Submitting to the doom that was rapidly engulfing her, she said nothing. The game was up; there was no lie to hide her, no way out. She was exposed, and now had to face the grim consequences.