A 42-year-old Fergus woman has been charged after a Guelph business discovered an internal theft that added up to over $300,000 over three years.
Tanya Craddock has been charged with five counts of theft over $5,000 in connection with the stolen money.
The Guelph-based company reported the internal theft to police in 2010, alleging a trusted employee had taken a large amount of money.
Guelph Police Const. Mike Gatto says "It sounds like she was a very trusted employee with the company… they started to believe money was going missing from their business accounts and they came forward in November."
A year-long Guelph police investigation found that the employee, by transferring company funds to her personal credit cards, had stolen nearly $322,000 over a three year period.
Police say Craddock was working as a controller, who has access to company money.
She turned herself in to police on Thursday and will appear in court on Jan. 24, 2012.
The company does not want its name released.
Losses can go undetected for years
Accounting experts say this type of situation can happen over an extended period of time, and it's usually when a company has one person in charge of the books.
Elliot J. Currie, an associate professor at the University of Guelph, says "Once you start small it's hard to stop."
Cases like this one, Currie says, are usually linked with opportunity.
"These are not your typical criminals. There are people that have some sort of need or greed which could be a personality flaw, but it's the idea that they have an opportunity, they have the need and they take advantage of it."
Unfortunately, often these cases aren't discovered until the person responsible is away from their position for a period of time.
But Currie says companies can safeguard themselves by creating an overlap in responsibilities, with more than one person dealing with the finances.
