Читать книгу Thou Shall Not Steal - Rod Fulenwider - Страница 5

Ruger’s in-laws owned a 200 acre ranch in Winnsboro Texas which is roughly two hours East of Dallas. The family custom was to spend most weekends in Winnsboro where Ruger would do his best to assist his father-in-law with various jobs around the ranch. Some days the job would be fixing fences, assisting in giving shots to the horses and cows and many other tasks that are constant to running a ranch with several horses and a few hundred head of black-angus cattle. Ruger is not the most mechanically inclined repair worker but hard work has never been a problem for Ruger. If anything, Ruger follows a lifestyle of brute force and ignorance; push thru and lead from the front is very much his style. Ruger has been known to say, “A crook a day, keeps the doctor away”. Ruger, Lee-Ann and their daughter Elizabeth returned home from the ranch to begin another work week.

It had been about six months since concluding the case with Will. Ruger had spent the last couple of months working on a series of known losses. The losses all seemed to be occurring on goods being shipped from the Dallas distribution hub to a South Texas route of 13 stores. The stores were on a route that began in Dallas, then went to Ft. Worth, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio and ultimately ended in Laredo Texas. This route covered a large amount of miles and took several days for the driver to complete. The losses started to appear about a year earlier but the company had been phasing in a new inventory control system so the losses did not appear until a secondary audit had been performed. There were four drivers from a third party transportation company that drove this route. It appeared to Ruger that most of the losses happened when a specific driver drove the route. The driver, Stan, in question had been driving big rigs for eleven years and had been assigned to the Lawson’s account for the past three years. Ruger’s investigation had revealed that Stan had been driving the route when all of the losses occurred except for five times. Ruger surmised that Stan had in fact driven the route the other five times but the logs needed to be verified. Ruger did not tell the transportation company of the possible losses but he did speak with the transportation company to verify who had actually driven the routes on the days in question. The transportation company was not helpful and would not provide Ruger with the requested information. Ruger made a plan to determine if Stan was in fact a crooked driver. Ruger knew the importance of data analytics but unfortunately Lawson’s did not have a solid computer system platform within the supply chain. The newly installed system had limited data transferred from the previous system. Ruger was stuck with the old problem of garbage in, garbage out. The first thing Ruger did was to double count all goods scheduled to be delivered on the South Texas run that week. Once all counts were complete, the goods were then secured and not allowed to be touched by anyone until loaded on to Stan’s truck. The goods were kept under video surveillance until that were loaded on Stan’s 53 foot-long trailer and Stan began delivery of his route. Once the route was complete and the final manifest was uploaded into Lawson’s system Ruger could then have store personnel perform an audit. Ruger’s suspicions were confirmed when the stores reported back several delivery shortages at their stores. Ruger repeated the process two weeks later and confirmed that there was a pattern and a problem with Stan’s deliveries. Given that Ruger had found multiple losses and that all the losses seemed to be tied to one driver Ruger knew that he had to be more aggressive with the investigation. Ruger spoke to his boss and they determined that Ruger would follow Stan the next time he made the South Texas Route. Two other drivers drove the route the next two weeks and there were no losses on this route.

Once again all goods on the South Texas route were double counted and made ready for Stan to make the South Texas run. Ruger rented a vehicle and prepared to perform surveillance on the South Texas route. Ruger began following Stan as he headed for the Dallas store and then to Ft. Worth. Ruger was prepared for the long trip and was glad that they had good weather for the trip. The sky was clear and the temperature was perfect at 65 degrees with minimal humidity. The weather conditions were important since Ruger would be filming and taking pictures of Stan on this trip. Ruger watched and filmed Stan as he made the first delivery in Dallas.

Stan proved to be a very efficient delivery driver. He was pleasant to store personnel and seemed to have a very good relationship with store employees. The employees did not follow company procedures and left Stan to move around free will at the store receiving dock. It appeared that Stan had started this trip with theft in mind. Stan unloaded the first part of the load and the receiving clerk scanned the goods immediately which uploaded the goods into the store’s inventory system which meant the goods were received. The company had remodeled all stores nationwide and in so doing had maximized floor space and minimized back room space. The remodel also resulted in a change in procedures. No longer would goods be received into the back room, then placed in the accounting system and then placed into stock. The new system dictated that goods were scanned into inventory as the goods came off the truck, then immediately moved to the sales floor. The new process eliminated a number of steps and created a significant amount of new floor sales space without adding to the physical size of the store. The new process had been in place about two years and apparently Stan saw the new changes as opportunity. The opportunity for a crook to steal.

Stan’s process of stealing product was very smooth. Stan had ingratiated himself with the store personnel to the point that these people liked and trusted Stan. The results could be devastating to a profit and loss network. Ruger had already uncovered losses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and now he had a front seat to Stan’s crooked activity. Stan would off load the goods in a methodical manner and he was patient in his actions. While the receiving clerk moved part of the goods to the sales floor Stan would steal a number of the items and place them in front seat of his truck. He would return to the dock area and wait for the receiving clerk to return to the docks. Once the clerk returned Stan would repeat the process every time until all the scheduled goods were unloaded. Stan also took the opportunity to steal a few additional items that happened to be in the back room. Stan had no idea that Ruger was filming every movement that Stan made. To add insult to injury Stan would have the receiving clerk sign the manifest and Stan was back on the road. Once Ruger was on the road following Stan, Ruger made a phone call to the store manager to let her know what had just transpired. Ruger told the manager to not let the other stores know. Ruger needed to see just how far Stan was willing to take his criminal actions. Ruger knew conceptually that some people steal because stealing is a way of life, others steal because opportunity presents itself, some steal due to a family financial crisis (i.e. extreme medical bills, etc) and there are other multiple reasons why a person will steal. In Stan’s case he stole because he wanted more money which in Ruger’s mind meant that Stan was lower than the underbelly of a worm.

Stan arrived at the Ft. Worth store and then it was on to the other stores on the route. One of Lawson’s key distribution goals was on time delivery. Every third-party delivery company was graded on a number of elements and on time delivery was the most critical. The driver was given an on time delivery window. The driver was scheduled to make a delivery between specific certain times. If the driver hit the window then the driver was considered on time. If the driver was too early or too late then they were outside the window. Each store scheduled receiving and shipping personnel based upon delivery windows so missing a window could result in overtime and other costly issues to Lawson’s. Magnify multiple missed windows and the associated overtime with thousands of stores over a year’s period of time and you have large amount of lost revenue.

Stan made the on time delivery window of the first twelve stores. Ruger had filmed Stan stealing product at all twelve stores. Stan was very organized as he arranged the stolen product inside his truck cab as well as in the storage caverns on the sides of the rig. Ruger was tired and really ticked at watching Stan steal from the company so easily. Ruger was ready to get to Laredo where he intended not only to confront Stan but to have Stan arrested. Stan was also scheduled to make deliveries to four stores in New Mexico but Ruger intended to keep the arrest straight forward by only involving Texas law enforcement personnel. Stan was on track to make the delivery window to the Laredo store at 5:00 pm. The store closed at 6:00 pm so making the store by 5:00 provided plenty of time to complete this part of the route. Stan drove right past the exit to the Laredo store and Ruger wondered what was going on. Stan would have had plenty of fuel so Stan passing the store made no sense. Stan used the last exit in Laredo. Stan then drove to a grocery store and picked up some supplies. Stan then returned to his rig and drove to a nearby truck stop. Stan parked his rig and did not get out of his rig for three hours. Ruger found a good observation point on a hill that overlooked the truck stop. Ruger had a long-range camera lens that allowed him a clear view of Stan’s action. Even though it was dark outside the truck yard was well lit. Ruger had wondered what Stan planned to do with all the goods that he had stolen.

It turns out that Stan was not only a good crook he was also good at making money. Stan began to sale the stolen goods to the other truck drivers. The driver opened up his own mobile store in the parking lot of the truck yard. Ruger made a call to the Texas Department of Public Safety (the State Police). A couple of troopers arrived at Ruger’s location and Ruger shared with them the details of the case. Ruger and the troopers observed and filmed Stan as he sold stolen goods. They also filmed him paying a prostitute to join him in his truck. It would have been easy for DPS to make the arrest at that very moment. Instead it was decided that the troopers would meet Ruger in the morning and they would watch as Stan committed more thefts the next morning at the store. The next morning Ruger met the troopers at Whataburger and bought them breakfast. At 8:00 in the morning Stan arrived to make his delivery. The troopers watched as Stan continued his stealing exploits. Enough was enough and the troopers decided it was time to provide Stan a sterling silver set of bracelets (once size fits all). Ruger filmed every moment as Stan was arrested at the Laredo store. When Stan was arrested he snickered to the troopers and told them that all they had him on was simple theft.

Stan did not realize that it is a State Felony and a Federal offense to steal interstate goods. The troopers impounded Stan’s truck as evidence. Stan’s truck was owned by the third-party trucking company and the goods for the four New Mexico stores were still on board. The trailer being impounded created a couple of real issues for the trucking company. First of all, per the contract Lawson’s was able to fine the trucking company several thousands of dollars a day for each day they did not make the delivery window. Secondly, the trucking company was still responsible to get the goods to New Mexico so they had to pay Lawson’s to get new product and deliver the goods to New Mexico. This proved to be a significant loss to the trucking company. Ruger wondered if the trucking company figured out that it might be important to cooperate with an official investigation next time. Ruger had completed the surveillance that had taken him a total of 936 miles (one way) and several days. Ruger was ready to head home. Stan set in jail in Laredo for six months until he was able to be tried for his crimes. DPS charged him with multiple counts of interstate theft going back at least two years. Ruger had been able to provide a detailed document of the exact losses caused by Stan. Ruger also produced the legal documents that demonstrated Stan’s known assets. The assets exceeded Stan’s income so the court found it easy to realize where Stan’s extra money came from. The court took possession of the illegally gained assets and sentenced Stan to 35 years in state prison.

Once again Ruger and Brandon were doing a case after action review. This had become a normal part of their operations as the after action review allowed them to uncover if either one of them had missed anything related to the case. Brandon remember a case from his days as a store loss prevention manager and hand shared it with Ruger. Brandon and Ruger had both worked shoplifter cases. Some shoplifter cases are favorites because of the dollar amount of due to the scope of the case and some because of the personality of the shoplifter. When Brandon was younger (and much dumber) he chased a shoplifter on foot about a mile on foot for a belt and wallet that the guy had stolen. Keep in the mind the company had a no chase policy. The pursuit ended when the guy climbed a ten foot iron fence into a wildlife preserve. The guy and Brandon were both winded and both stopped and looked at each other through the iron bars. Brandon told the guy he should get used to looking through bars because that’s what he was going to be doing in jail. About that time the police department showed up and they keys to open the fence to the preserve. Brandon knew one of the officers from a previous arrest. The officers arrested the guy and proceeded to nickname Brandon “the big game hunter”. There are cases that make for really good object lessons and demonstrate how fast a situation can change.

Brandon received a call from his region manager telling him that the company president would be visiting a number of stores in the area. Brandon’s stores were not on the list but his boss wanted his help for the visits in Costa Mesa. Brandon really did not like this part of the job since he was not a big fan of dog and pony shows but he figured it would be a good chance to see some of his counterparts. Brandon was in the camera room at the South Coast Plaza with Kevin and Nelson. They were discussing where they were going to eat dinner once the president left and was on his way back to the corporate office. As they were talking they saw something real strange. A man in a wheelchair entered the men’s department and grabbed an entire stack of Levi jeans and set them on his lap. Brandon immediately picked up the phone and called the sales associate in the area and asked her to quickly check the fitting rooms to make sure the rooms were empty of product. In order to make a typical shoplifting arrest, there are certain observational elements that must occur. These elements are drilled into the heads of loss prevention professionals from day one on the job. You must observe the suspect enter the department. You must observe the suspect select an item or items from a display rack. You must observe the suspect conceal the item or items. You must observe the suspect exit the store without making a payment. You must maintain continuous observation of the suspect. If you miss any of these elements, you run the risk of making a bad stop and exposing yourself and the company to potential litigation. Fitting room apprehensions are considered “advanced techniques”. It is a common and important tactic in retail loss prevention to verify that a fitting room is empty. The typical fitting room theft apprehension works like this. First you make sure the fitting room is empty prior to the suspect entering. The shoplifter then goes in with various articles of clothing, maybe five items. After several minutes the person exits with two articles of clothing. The fitting room is inspected immediately. If the three missing items are not in the fitting room then they are typically underneath the suspect’s clothes or in a shopping bag or purse. This is not a hard operation as long as you can count.

Back to our guy in the wheelchair. Brandon was not able to count the number of Levi’s he grabbed but it looked like ten pairs of jeans. Brandon has never taken ten items of anything into a fitting room so the large number certainly caught his attention. Additionally, Brandon had noticed that all ten pairs of jeans were the exact same size. Why would anyone need to try on ten pairs of the same size and color of jeans? The behavior by this guy made Brandon realize that this could be a popular theft that is consistent with organized retail crime. This is where a person or person’s grab a large number of a recognized brand that is easy to sell at swap meets or on-line or even to return these items in return for cash. Brandon and the guys began to laugh at who was going to apprehend the wheelchair guy.

The guy exited the fitting room a few minutes later with no merchandise and he was actually sitting a foot higher in the wheelchair. Brandon grabbed a radio and headed outside to wait for the man to exit the store. The sales associate verified that the fitting room was empty. Brandon was wearing uncomfortable shoes and was glad that he would not have to chase this guy since he was in a wheelchair. The suspect exited the store when Brandon approached him and identified himself as a loss prevention manager. Brandon informed the man that he was being detained for stealing Levi jeans and by this time Brandon could see the jeans sticking out from under the man’s seat. The man denied stealing and attempted to roll past Brandon at which point Brandon grabbed the arm of the wheelchair. The suspect reached into his sweatpants and began trying to remove something which Brandon assumed would be a weapon. Brandon grabbed his arm to stop him and the man began screaming. Keep in mind there are customer entering and exiting the store and all they see is a man in a suit (Brandon) wrestling with a man in a wheelchair. The optics on this scene are not good for the company. Brandon realized the optics were not good and knew the president was in the store – these two factors caused Brandon to make an almost fatal error. Brandon hesitated. His hesitation was only for a second but it was enough and Brandon let go of the man’s arm. The man showed his hand and this time the hand was not empty. The man had a 9mm Glock handgun. Brandon yelled “gun” and grabbed the man by the wrist. Brandon attempted to get the gun away from the man when Brandon had another one of those great discoveries. The suspect although in a wheelchair; the man who was disabled from the waist down; the man had great upper body strength. It took every ounce of strength that Brandon had to keep gun pointed down as he was struggling with the man. The rest of the loss prevention team arrived and were ready to help. Nelson slammed his body into the wheelchair causing it tip over and allowed Brandon to disarm the man. There are a lot of lessons be learned from this situation. The two most important lessons are never under estimate your enemy and take all shoplifting stops seriously. We never know what is motivating someone to steal, what is motivating them to try to escape or what they are capable of doing. Several hours of this incident the team was at a bar having a drink and Brandon could not get his hands to stop shaking. Nelson summed it up the best when he leaned over to Brandon and said, “these are the thing I go home and don’t tell my wife about”.