Macy’s employee made $20K in fraudulent refunds, police say
STAMFORD CT April 16 2019 — A former Macy’s employee was charged with stealing over $20,000 from the department store by making bogus returns and being refunded money for the items.
Police said Michael Saunders, 33, was making the returns over a period of 18 months by using a manager’s employee number and profiting off the returns.
The Stamford man was charged with first-degree larceny on March 5 and held in lieu of a $100,000 bond. Sgt. Sean Scanlan said police were able to find Saunders until he was picked up during a motor vehicle stop in Darien last week. Darien police ran his name and found he had a warrant out for his arrest from Stamford.
According to his 10-page arrest affidavit, police were called by Macy’s security in March 2016 on the report of thefts that in some cases were videotaped. The security officers also provided police with a statement from Saunders where he admitted to making the returns in certain instances, copies of the fraudulent transactions and camera footage of Saunders making the returns.
According to the statement, Saunders said he was hired at Macy’s in 2012 and was working in the kids department when the thefts were discovered. Records used by police indicated that Saunders placed $4,176 worth of returns onto his mother’s credit card. He told store security he did that because she was having trouble with her bills and she was late with the rent, the affidavit said.
Saunders is also accused of making over $16,000 worth of cash returns for many items where there was no proof of purchase, the affidavit said.
Based on calculations from Saunder’s written statement, he admitted to making $20,413 worth of fraudulent returns, his affidavit said.
Stamford Advocate
