Do you think all shoplifters are poor and steal out of need? The fact is that most people do not steal items out of need, but on impulse. Administrators and barristers in the United Kingdom are becoming alarmed by a surge in thefts by members of the middle class.

Last year in the UK shoplifters pilfered £5 billion of goods from stores – the equivalent of almost £600,000 every hour. This was reported in scottsman.com.

Care to guess what the most pilfered item was? I am sure you did not guess correctly – it is cheese.

A British study revealed an increase in shoplifting of more than 6%. Other items frequently purchased with the five-finger discount were clothing, meat and beauty products.

There is no typical shoplifter any more. It’s a broad profile across age, ethnic group, gender and income bands, and one finding is that it is getting broader all the time.

Detection is also hard because low-cost goods such as cheese and health and beauty items like mascara are not fitted with security tags. And let’s face it - cheese is an everyday item you can hide easily. Mascara is small and relatively easy to steal and frees up expenditure for other items.

The study found some items traditionally targeted by shoplifters, such as alcohol and electronics, had fallen out of favor due to better security measures such as tagging, plastic casing and better staff training.

Scotland, always a leader in virtually any category dealing with alcohol, bucked this trend, however, with champagne and whisky still targets for shoplifters.

The average shoplifter steals £79 of goods in a single session, according to the report.

Man, we all have to pay for thievery. Stores have to increase prices to off-set the losses from shoplifting. Perhaps a good 8 hour shoplifting class for Scottish citizens, funded by the federal government is in order.

If karma has a way of coming back to bite you on the bottom one Mr. Matthew McGrenehan better be careful. He will have to keep a close eye out for those out to get him, although his foes may be invisible. He literally robbed the grave!

Metal Theft at its Worst

A 23-year-old employee of Locustwood Memorial Park Cemetery was arrested and charged in connection with the thefts of more than 200 brass flower vases from the cemetery.

As reported in CourierPostOnline.com, McGrenehan was arrested at work and later confessed to stealing the urns from the gravesites. He was charged with one combined second degree theft charge. He was also charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance after Percocet pills were found on him when he was arrested. Funny how theft and drugs go together, huh?

The thief was caught when a local scrap dealer did the right thing (you never hear that do you?). The scrap dealer who made McGrenehan provide a letter stating he was authorized to sell the vases began to pay for the brass vases, but later became even more suspicious and contacted police.

An honest scrap dealer, he even had all the paperwork from each vase he had scrapped.

After police left the scrap show, a desperate McGrenehan came into the shop with photographs of two women and a man and said his boss told him to tell me they might be possible suspects in the thefts. How unbelievably brazen.

There is a good chance McGrenehan will spend time behind bars for his crime. Was it to fund his Percocet habit? Or is he just another opportunist looking to make a quick illegal buck. I hope he takes a New Jersey theft class and gets some counseling so that he can become a productive member of society.

You have probably heard me mention that people are stealing anything and everything, whether it is bolted down or not. The following story recently is one of the more gruesome theft cases I have read in some time.

The Oneida County (Wisconsin) medical examiner stole body parts from the Fond du Lac County Medical Examiner’s Office, according to county law enforcement officials.

A Good Cause?

Traci J. England was arrested after she allegedly kept a human body part from an autopsy to use in training a dog, according to the FDL Reporter.

The 44-year-old England attended an autopsy in Fond du Lac and kept part of the deceased person’s spine. England told police that she intended to use the human remains to train one of her dogs to search for human remains.

England has been ordered not work with or possess any human body parts. While she has not been charged with a crime, she is being investigated on possible charges of misconduct of office in Oneida County.

She was placed on paid administrative leave and a deputy medical examiner will be appointed in the near future to fill her position in the interim. Meanwhile bodies will be sent to neighboring communities until this happens.

England served as a deputy medical examiner for Oneida County from August 2002 until she was promoted to medical examiner in September 2008. England’s annual salary is $14,139 plus a per diem for responding to death calls.

You think this was an isolated incident, or has England stolen before? If this was a one-time incident then she showed a horrific lack in judgment. Either way I would like to see her take a Wisconsin theft class and attend a few theft counseling sessions.

Those of you who know me know that I preach education is the way to rehabilitation. I am a believer that our criminal justice system’s primary goal is not to punish, but to rehabilitate. Robert Roche is one of the few people I would say is beyond repair. He is incapable of being rehabilitated and should spend the rest of his days behind bars.

How Many Chances Should Someone Get?

Roche, a career criminal with an extremely lengthy criminal record is back under arrest in Yarmouth, MA after he conned an 86-year-old woman out of more than $20,000.

Roche drained the victim’s bank account and left her with credit card bills in the thousands.

The trouble began when the elderly woman, who has dementia, rented her garage apartment to Roche, an ex-con with 195 past charges on his criminal record.

Roche further took advantage of the nice, old lady by agreeing to help with yard and house work.

On top of the $20,000 Roche is accused of stealing from Rita’s bank account, police say he swiped jewelry, old coins, and electronics. He’s also accused of charging thousands of dollars on credit cards he took out in her name.

“He has no integrity and that’s too bad because he’s never going to get anywhere in life and he’s going straight to hell,” the victim said.

How about a nice Dodge Charger for an 86-year-old who can’t drive? Roche managed to convince her to buy a Charger for about $20,000.

The Story Thickens

The victim became suspicious when Roche concocted a story that his son was involved in a serious car crash and had a leg amputated. He asked for whatever cash she had in her wallet. She gave him $200. Roche also took the woman’s car, saying he needed to drive to Maine to see his son.

Roche is charged with two counts of larceny. Rita says her nerves have been calmed by this man’s arrest.

This is a very sad case that never should have happened. How can that guy still be walking the street? While I would recommend a good online theft class for many, Roche has run out of chances as far as I’m concerned.

Source: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/01/06/man-accused-in-elderly-theft-had-195-charges-on-criminal-record/

In my every-growing portfolio of politician theft, California provides yet another example. In this case, however, there is a little twist, namely the alibi the politician used.

A California lawmaker pleaded no contest to stealing leather pants and other merchandise from a Neiman Marcus store in an incident her attorney blamed on a benign brain tumor. This according to the Monterey Herald.

Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, a democrat from Castro Valley, was arrested Oct. 23 after surveillance cameras showed her walking out the doors with un-purchased merchandise in her shopping bag. The good were worth approximately $2,500.

Restraining Order

Hayashi was sentenced to three years of probation, ordered her to pay $180 in fines and court costs, and told her to stay at least 50 feet away from the Neiman Marcus store.

The 44-year-old Hayashi was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor and claims that affected her concentration and judgment and contributed to the shoplifting incident.

Hayashi has no plans to resign from office. Even if she had been convicted of a felony, she would have lost her pay but not necessarily her job in the Legislature.

Hayashi happens to be married to Alameda County Superior Court Judge Dennis Hayashi, and has represented Castro Valley since 2006 but can't run for re-election because she is termed out of office after this year.

Prosecutors said they agreed to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor because Hayashi was willing to enter the no-contest plea and had no prior criminal record.

She is a first-time offender with no criminal record. Because of this, combined with her plea, prosecutors only sought misdemeanor charges against her.

Did she get a slap on the wrist because of who she is and is married to? The answer cannot be determined, but that is probably the case.

Either way, she appears committed to staying on the straight and narrow, even if she used a crazy alibi. I would like to see her take a theft class and seek counseling to make sure she does not steal again.

People are stealing from each other and the government at every turn. One place you do not expect thieves to be able to steal from the government is jail. Yet that is precisely what is happening all across the country.

The current scourge is tax refund fraud. Tax refund fraud has siphoned hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from government coffers and into the hands of criminals, leaving identity theft victims unable to get their legitimate tax refunds.

It has gotten so ridiculously out of control that a couple is having to sue the Internal Revenue Service for delaying their tax refund after someone stole the husband's identity and used it to get a fraudulent tax refund.

Tax refund fraud is rampant in the state prisons, especially in the state of Florida. Why is Florida always the leader in cases of fraud (it also leads in prescription medication/Medicare fraud and welfare fraud)?

Here’s How it Works

Inmates use each-others' Social Security numbers and information from inmate family members and friends to file for phony refunds, he said. Some have made so much money they have used the proceeds to open legitimate businesses after they're released.

According to a former prisoner, when inmates did get caught committing tax fraud, they were given a slap on the wrist and moved to a different facility, where before long, they'd be at it again.

Supposedly this has been going on for more than 20 years!

Insanity, how can this happen? More importantly why doesn’t it stop? Let’s face it prisoners have too much free time and too much access to things they should not have. As long as they have Internet access might as well make them take a good online 4 hour theft class.

Source: Tampa Bay Online

Government corruption is rampant all around the world. As much as we like to think we are immune to corruption, it is deep-rooted in our political infrastructure. From Congressmen to mayors and governors, it seems like there is always someone willing to be on the take for the right price.

Our nation’s military is no different. According to CNN, just last week a stringent restriction was put in place on about 100 soldiers at a large military base in Washington state after the theft of "sensitive" and valuable "military-grade" equipment. A $10,000 reward has been offered by the Army in the case.

Members of the Army Criminal Investigation Command are at Joint Base Lewis-McChord trying to find out who is responsible for the missing items.

"Hundreds of items" are missing from a vault that is inside a building on the base. They include things such as scopes and night-vision goggles but no guns or ammunition.

The soldiers are all part of a unit has been home from Iraq since September 2010.

Here’s how security works on the base. Every unit has its own vault, which in this case has two locks -- one on the vault, and another on the door to an abutting office. It has not been determined whether the missing items were stored properly or if someone was able to get into a properly locked vault and made off with the equipment.

Is the military trying to downplay the theft or is there really no reason to fret? A military spoke man said that older versions of the stolen items could be bought legally in the civilian market. He claims that the stolen items have limited use to the public, given the challenges in knowing how to use them and having the right kind of weapon to attach them to.

Does it frighten you to know the military can be stolen from? Most likely it was a few soldiers stealing to make a few extra bucks. But this is not good. There has been far too much thievery and corruption in our military. From a low-lever jackass selling government secrets to Wikileaks to this, the military must put a stop to this.

America has long been known as “The Land of Opportunity.” It has been a mecca for immigrants to settle and be free to make their own opportunity. For some, this is an opportunity to steal and rob. Such is the case of Sang-Hyun “Jimmy” Park.

Park was the leader of an identity theft and fraud ring that reached from northern New Jersey to U.S. territories in the Pacific.

He admitted that he had helped people fraudulently obtain credit cards, bank accounts and loans using illegally obtained Social Security numbers in a scheme that federal authorities say defrauded various credit card companies, banks and lenders out of about $4 million.

Park is the 54^th Korean immigrant charged with identity theft since September 2010. Park and his cohorts made millions of dollars.

He and his co-conspirators operated a scheme to buy Social Security cards from brokers who fraudulently obtained them from Asian immigrants — mostly Chinese nationals — working in American territories, including Guam, American Samoa and Saipan.

The cards were then resold to Korean immigrants in the territorial U.S. who used them to apply for driver’s licenses in California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Nevada, New York and elsewhere. Several of the defendants then used their U.S. identifications to apply for credit cards. Some used all the credit they obtained to buy luxury goods such as vehicles, designer bags or liquor, some of it to resell.

Good Intentions (at the beginning)

The 45-year-old native of South Korea lives in Palisades Park, a town just across the George Washington Bridge from Manhattan that is home to a large Korean population. He emigrated from Seoul in 1999 to start a business importing raw materials from Central America to manufacture hats in New Jersey.

According to his scumbag attorney, US restrictions on imported goods caused Park’s business to crumble so he turned to illegal activities.

Park ran the operation by using shell businesses, advertising the sale of U.S. identity documents in local Korean-language newspapers and employing a staff that included identity document brokers, people who worked to increase credit limits and boost scores for customers using the fraudulently obtained credit cards and local merchants who would swipe the cards at their businesses to get banks to transmit them money, according to court documents.

This is one very bad case of an immigrant gone sour. There are millions of Korean immigrants who use the great freedoms this country offers for both the good of their family and the good of society. 

With all of their fame and notoriety celebrities are prime targets for many things. They are targeted by the paparazzi to get photos of them in both their public and personal lives. They also have large amounts of money and need people they can trust to help them manage it.

All too often you read about a movie star or athlete that has to file bankruptcy to theft and mismanagement by those entrusted to help them with their money!

Such is the case of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" actress Tamara Tune, according to Google and the AP.

Tunie claims her former business manager exploited her trust to steal more than $1 million she earned by working doggedly at a peak in her career.

Her former manager, Joseph Cilibrasi, was sentenced to 2 1/2 to 7 1/2 years in prison. Her manager insinuated himself into her life by joining in birthday parties, weddings and other family events, only to use that closeness to embezzle from her and leave a lasting hole in her family's finances.

Cilibrasi, 51, pleaded guilty in the fall to stealing from Tunie and other clients, including screenwriter Janet Roach and Kansas City Symphony music director Michael Stern. Cilibrasi used some of the stolen cash to finance his own forays into entertainment, including investing in movies and Broadway shows and hiring a screenwriter to pen a script about a historic building.

In pleading guilty to grand larceny and other charges, Cilibrasi admitted he stole more than $1.4 million from Tunie by writing checks to himself from her accounts without her permission and by secretly opening a credit card account in her name, then getting his own card on the account by falsely listing himself as her husband.

Best known for playing medical examiner Melinda Warner for more than a decade on NBC's "Law & Order: SVU," Tunie also has appeared in Fox's "24" and other series in such films as 1997's "The Peacemaker," starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman.

The moral of this story is the same – people do not steal from one another. The world would be a much better place if we all treated each other humanely.

I would bet a good percentage of the US population thinks poorly of the men and women leading our nation. By that I mean they do not trust and respect the job our nation’s lawmakers are providing. Of course there are many honorable men and women up on Capitol Hill and in Washington DC City Council.

But it does seem like there are a lot of stories involving fraud and embezzlement coming out of government. It is bad enough that US Congressmen are bought and paid for by special interests, but to steal cash straight from the till.

The latest in the seemingly endless group of corrupt lawmakers is Harry Thomas Jr., a Councilman for the District of Columbia, was charged with stealing more than $350,000 in government funds and filing false tax returns.

The 51-year-old Democrat is facing two felony counts and appears to have the intention to plead guilty.

While all theft is wrong, this is especially sad because the funds he is accused of stealing had been earmarked for District of Columbia youth sports programs.

Thomas is a multi-time offender, and if convicted, needs to pay a severe punishment!

Previously he had been accused of spending the money on a luxury SUV, travel and rounds of golf and agreed to pay back $300,000 in a civil settlement with the attorney general, although he missed a scheduled $50,000 payment that was due last week.

In an everyone should pay their fair share, Thomas failed to report $356,000 in income between 2007 and 2009.

DC has had a rough year with numerous scandals, including Councilman Kwame Brown who siphoned more than $200K into the coffers of his brother. A campaign staffer of another official has been accused of giving cash and promising a government job to a minor mayoral candidate in exchange for that person's withering criticism of then-Mayor Adrian Fenty in 2010.

Thomas steered the money into a nonprofit that provides golf programs for youth. That group then paid most of the grant money to an organization under Thomas' control, known as Team Thomas.

Team Thomas was supposed to use the funds to provide youth sports programs. While the money was used to fund golf, it was not for Team Thomas, but for his travel expenses to exclusive golf courses including Pebble Beach Golf Links in California.

DC has a long history with corrupt local politicians. It seems like only yesterday Mayor Marion Berry was cavorting with prostitutes and smoking meth!

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9S2VBNO0.htm