Big Apple resolves string of thefts Employee’s actions don’t add up after examination of register receipts

The manager of the Big Apple store at 146 Main St. in Bangor had some satisfaction Tuesday when an employee she terminated for taking money from the till was summoned to appear in court for her actions.

Bangor Police Officer Larry Morrill reported that store manager Edythe Marsh had fired employee Sherry Richardson last November after discovering a series of voided register receipts that did not match up with so-called credited sales.

Marsh discovered negative numbers on the register tape after making a cash drawer print out known as a “Z.” When she looked into why that result came up, she found a voided transaction for an item for which there was no original purchase, she told Morrill.

Marsh then began to look over several cash drawer Zs and found several had the same discrepancy. March then confronted Richardson with one of the receipts and asked her why she had made a void of a certain item that cost about $30.

The employee, who had been working at the Big Apple for about five months, told Marsh that a customer who was trying to make a purchase couldn’t get his credit-debit card to work properly, and so she had to void the transaction.

Marsh told Morrill that the trouble with Richardson’s story was that nowhere else on the tape was there any evidence of the original transaction. She added that Richardson had no good answer when asked about the discrepancies. The manager also said she had checked the work schedules to find that Richardson was the only person who might have had access to the register during the time of these improperly voided transactions.

The total of the voids that did not have an original purchase was approximately $200, Marsh told Morrill. Marsh was instructed by her parent company, CN Brown, to file a police report and have charges brought against Richardson for theft. Marsh did that and the result culminated in a summons this week.

Richardson will appear in Bangor District Court on March 26.

– . –

Early Tuesday morning, Officer Shawn Green was dispatched to find Robert Butler at his residence on Pine Street to arrest him on a warrant for unpaid fines amounting to $119. As Green approached the doorway of the apartment building, a man was walking out the door. Green asked the man if he had seen Robert Butler, and the man answered that he “had not seen Robert in a while.”

Green reported that he asked for the man’s name, and was told that it was “Richard Jones.” Green then asked him for a proof of identification and Jones said he did not have any, but instead offered his birth date. At this point, Green dismissed the man and returned to his cruiser.

The police officer then observed the man who called himself Jones walk down Pine Street and turn right on Somerset Street toward Broadway. Green then contacted dispatch and requested that a warrant check be conducted for Jones and was told that there was no Richard Jones listed in the local computer systems. Green then requested a physical description of Butler and was told he was a Native American male, 5 feet 10 inches tall, with gray hair in a ponytail and brown eyes. The description matched Jones exactly.

Green then found Jones-Butler walking on Broadway. Green reported that he stepped out of his cruiser and called to Jones, using the name “Robert.” The man admitted his actual identity to Green. Dispatch confirmed the outstanding warrant and Butler was placed under arrest and taken to the Penobscot County Jail without any incident. Bail was set at $119.

– . –

Residents in the area of Sanford Street in Bangor on Tuesday at midmorning were having a few anxious moments wondering if their own or their neighbors’ mailboxes were going to be tampered with, or the contents stolen, as a young man sauntered from mailbox to mailbox looking for a prize.

Officer Chris Desmond was dispatched to the area to investigate the actions of a person who was described as a white male, approximately 20 years old, wearing blue jeans and a jacket with a hood. As Desmond approached the intersection of Sanford and Cedar streets, he noticed Bangor Police Lieutenant Tim Reid parked at the intersection. Reid told Desmond that the suspect was near 79 Sanford St., and that he observed the man going through mailboxes.

According to a police report, Desmond went to the location Reid mentioned, but could not find the suspect, believing perhaps that the man had spotted the cruiser and was attempting to avoid apprehension. Desmond called for another unit, manned by Officer Ed Potter, to come to the scene.

Desmond then conducted a search of the area and saw the suspect, later identified as 21-year-old Nicholas Swoboda, of Buck Street.

Desmond reportedly asked the suspect what he was doing and the suspect said he was looking for a friend.

Reid told Desmond that Swoboda was the man he had seen going through mailboxes and advised that Desmond arrest him, which Desmond did, taking Swoboda to Penobscot County Jail. While being transported to the jail, Swoboda reportedly asked what he was being charged with. Desmond told him that he was being charged with attempted theft and violation of the conditions of his bail. Swoboda reportedly asked Desmond how he could be charged with theft, saying, “because I don’t have anything on me.”

After the arrest was made, residents in the neighborhood were questioned about Swoboda’s actions. One tenant reportedly said Swoboda climbed the stairs to her apartment and was asking for a girl by name. The woman told him no one by that name lived in the building.

Another resident who was questioned said he had been in his apartment at the time and heard someone going through the mailboxes. The man looked outside and saw the suspect walking away from some mailboxes across the street. Then the resident noticed the young man checking out other mailboxes at the same apartment building. Swoboda walked upstairs to look in two mailboxes, and then walked downstairs to look in two more mailboxes, the man said. He continued to do this, first knocking on apartment doors and then looking in the mailboxes when no came to the door, it was reported.

Another female resident said she was leaving her apartment when she saw Swoboda walking down the stairs. She confronted him, asking him what he was doing there. Swoboda said he was looking for a friend, and left the building.

Once at the jail, Desmond received a copy of Swoboda’s bail conditions. The man previously had been arrested for theft and forgery, and was told not to enter mailboxes as a condition of bail.

– Compiled by Alixandra Williams of the NEWS Staff