Hum Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 VALPARAISO, IN (AP) -- An employee of a Valparaiso Wal-Mart has been charged with theft for repeatedly making purchases to get change from a self-service cash register that was dispensing $20 bills instead of $1 bills. Police say 24-year-old Christopher Sheets made 10 purchases in 4 1/2 hours Tuesday morning and got about $600. A store security official said $20 and $1 bills were loaded in the wrong slots of the self-service register. The mistake wasn't noticed until a customer complained that the machine gave a $1 bill in change instead of a 20. Porter County Jail officials said Sheets was not in custody Friday. It was not known if he had an attorney and there was no listing for Sheets in the Valparaiso telephone directory. from: The Times, http://www.thetimesonline.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathachew Veteran Posted February 9, 2008 Veteran Share Posted February 9, 2008 "La la la, life sucks. *purchases something, gets a $20 returned* Hooray for me! Like Monopoly says, bank error in my favor! Let's rape the system!!" Shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillz Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Isn't that the store's fault, though? Whether he reported it or not may be an issue, but beyond that, I don't see how it's really theft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathachew Veteran Posted February 9, 2008 Veteran Share Posted February 9, 2008 Isn't that the store's fault, though? Whether he reported it or not may be an issue, but beyond that, I don't see how it's really theft. Sure it's the store's fault, but it's theft because he's taking money that never was his. If he is owed $1, and he receives $20, he has no right to claim the $20 as his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuudJacobs.NET Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Thats not theft at all. Let him have teh money. He got lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doli Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 He is an employee of the store so he sould have told the manager instead of taking advantage of the situation so it is store theft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Antonius Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 I think that if he had made one purchase, got the twenty, then woo yay for him. End of. But i think the reason he is being done for theft is because he purposely went back a number of times. Knowing he could get the money. Its like, walking into a bank, and seeing an open door, then a load of cash on a shelf in a back room. Its knowingly exploiting the company. Hence theft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spenser.d Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 But i think the reason he is being done for theft is because he purposely went back a number of times. Knowing he could get the money. +1 The guy made 10 purchases in 4 hours because he knew the machine was doing the wrong thing. That, to me anyways, constitutes theft. -Spenser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revvo Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Sure it's the store's fault, but it's theft because he's taking money that never was his. If he is owed $1, and he receives $20, he has no right to claim the $20 as his own. I bet you if he was a customer and not an employee Wal-Mart would have let it go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathachew Veteran Posted February 9, 2008 Veteran Share Posted February 9, 2008 I bet you if he was a customer and not an employee Wal-Mart would have let it go Maybe, maybe not, but I look at it the same way in either case. The money didn't belong to him, and yet he took what was never rightfully his. Just because my neighbor leaves the keys in the ignition of their car with the door open doesn't mean I can take the car as my own, nor does money lying in the open on a dresser mean it is automatically up for grabs to the first person to see it. This is one of the many problematic attitudes that society has, where honesty is becoming a figment of our imagination, where doing the wrong thing is done much more than the right thing. I stand by what I said earlier, he was owed $1, not $20, by keeping it he was stealing from Wal-Mart, employee or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fugi Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 once okay... twice.... sketchy... but 10 times in 4.5 hours? Theft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundayx Veteran Posted February 9, 2008 Veteran Share Posted February 9, 2008 You'd keep doing it if it was you, at least twice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borbus Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Since he's an employee if they couldn't get him for theft they could get him for gross negligence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathachew Veteran Posted February 9, 2008 Veteran Share Posted February 9, 2008 You'd keep doing it if it was you, at least twice. I would've alerted the cashier. It would be different if someone unknowingly took the money, but I can tell you for a fact that had it been me or my wife (or many other people I know), Wal-Mart would've known about it a lot sooner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Japlabot Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 it's not theft if they gave it to him. The shame is that the store would probably sue to make a point, and the man would spend more than $600 on legal fees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathachew Veteran Posted February 10, 2008 Veteran Share Posted February 10, 2008 it's not theft if they gave it to him. The shame is that the store would probably sue to make a point, and the man would spend more than $600 on legal fees Wal-Mart didn't give it to him, he acquired the initial $20 by mistake and exploited the heck out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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