Sprint Store Manager Accused Of Mailing $327,000 In Refund Checks To Himself

(Consumerist)

A former manager of a Sprint store in Queens, NY, has been arrested for allegedly helping himself to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of rebate checks that should have gone to customers.

The NY Daily News reports that between 2007 and 2010, the manager copied customer information from receipts and then used it to fill in rebate claim forms. He would then have these checks, ranging in value from $50 to $100 each, sent to rented post office boxes he’d set up locally and as far away as Richmond, VA.

It wasn’t until a customer complained to Sprint HQ in 2010 that she’d never received a rebate check. When Sprint investigated, it found that the check had been cashed and that it had been mailed to a P.O. box in Queens. That’s when they noticed that more than 600 checks had been sent to this same address without setting off any red flags at Sprint.

In total, the man is accused of stealing $326,944 worth of rebate checks. He has been charged with mail fraud and released on $75,000 bond.

The big question is: What the heck did he do with the money?

He’s no longer working at Sprint, and it’s not like he took the cash and fled to Costa Rica or anything. Instead, he’s been working at a Chinese food restaurant in Virginia.

“If there was a spending spree, I don’t know when that took place because my understanding is he works seven days a week in the restaurant,” says his lawyer.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist