Subject:
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Former employee charged in LEGO credit card scam
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.mediawatch, lugnet.general
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Date:
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Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:01:21 GMT
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Viewed:
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14128 times
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Journal Inquirer
By Laura F. Alix
Oct. 22, 2008
Former employee charged in LEGO credit card scam
ENFIELD, CT. - A Massachusetts woman is facing a larceny charge after, police
say, she used LEGO company credit cards to buy more than $16,000 worth of LEGO
sets and sell them for personal profit on eBay.
The woman, Linda Hegarty, 46, who has been fired by LEGO, was charged with
first-degree larceny Oct. 6 and posted a $20,000 bond. Hegarty, of Belchertown,
will appear in Superior Court on Oct. 28.
According to an affidavit supporting Hegartyês arrest, police began
investigating the matter in June when they were contacted by a human resources
official from LEGO North American headquarters.
The official told police that LEGO officials received a call in April from a man
who told them he was a reseller of LEGO products on eBay and had recently bought
a LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon product on eBay, the affidavit said.
The caller told the LEGO official that the original cost of the product ã which
was printed on a packing slip from the company's "Shop at Home" division and
addressed to Hegarty - was lower than what he had paid for it. He wanted to know
how he could purchase the item for the lower price, the affidavit stated.
LEGO does not sell its products on eBay, the official told police.
When company officials examined the order, they found 15 other items had been
purchased with the Millennium Falcon theme and charged to a company credit card
assigned to Hegarty, the affidavit stated.
According to the affidavit, the official explained to police that Hegarty was
employed by LEGO as a licensing coordinator, and her duties required her to
purchase licensed LEGO products from the company's "Shop at Home" division and
have those items shipped to authorized locations, such as licensing companies.
Officials discovered the products had been sold on eBay under the username
Spaceleprechaun, and that more than 600 products had been sold between 2002 and
2008, the affidavit said.
The official told police that likely Hegarty was purchasing the products and
reselling them on eBay for personal profit, the affidavit stated.
Hegarty was fired in May and shortly afterward, sent a letter to the human
resources official admitting to improper use of the company credit card and
stating her willingness to cooperate with the company, the affidavit said.
According to the affidavit, Hegarty said she committed the act because she was
overwhelmed by bills and admitted to purchasing and then reselling about $4,688
worth of LEGO products on eBay between March and April.
But company officials told police that further investigation revealed Hegarty
had been using her company credit card to make improper purchases since 2002,
the affidavit stated.
Officials gave police a spreadsheet detailing 33 purchases made with company
cards between August 2005 and March 2008, and totaling about $16,407, the
affidavit said.
Police also learned from eBay that the person with the username Spaceleprechaun
- identified by authorities as Hegarty - had posted 176 listings, mostly LEGO
products, over the last 12 months, the affidavit said.
Based on this information, police applied for and obtained a warrant charging
Hegarty with first-degree larceny.
In 2006 three former LEGO employees received a special form of probation for
first-offenders following their arrests on charges they stole thousands of
dollars worth of Star Wars-themed LEGO sets while working at the toymakerês
Enfield distribution center, then sold them on eBay. The three men also paid
restitution to the company totaling $17,000.
The men, who all faced a first-degree larceny charge, had been accused of
stealing 140 of the LEGO Star Wars Destroyer sets, police had said.
<http://www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2008/10/22/news/doc48ff510f30862704919682.txt>
-end of report-
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