Theft of Company Property – Over 100,000 Euros in Damage

The operators of company xy, which runs an entertainment centre in Bremen, recently contacted the detectives of Kurtz Detective Agency Bremen in desperation. They were on the brink of insolvency and would have to lay off staff at short notice, as company profits had sharply declined over the past two years. This could not be reasonably explained, as customers continued to frequent the business as usual. Consequently, someone from the relatively small staff must have been embezzling, and this is where the commercial detectives of Kurtz Detective Agency Bremen were called in.

Employee Thorsten D. had joined the company two years earlier and had since worked daily at the cash register. He is a young student seeking to supplement his student income at the affected entertainment centre. As the first discrepancies in the cash register were traced to just three weeks after Thorsten D.’s employment began, he was considered the prime suspect at the start of our Bremen private detectives’ investigation.

 

Consequently, the loyalty of Thorsten D., whom the clients of Kurtz Detective Agency Bremen had trusted despite lacking references, was tested by our detectives. Initially, the pre-installed surveillance camera at Thorsten D.’s workstation was checked, revealing that a specific sequence of movements made it possible to pocket customer payments without being recorded. To cover the camera’s restricted angle, which had been installed with the employees’ knowledge, the tactical positioning of the first observer was determined. A second detective from our Bremen private and commercial detective agency was assigned the role of decoy. Under the pretext of purchasing a day ticket for the client’s sports area, he handed Thorsten D. two marked banknotes. Later, video recordings clearly showed Thorsten D. using exactly the trick rehearsed by the investigators, pocketing the marked notes while returning change – thus causing double harm to his employer.

The detectives of Kurtz Detective Agency Bremen monitored this procedure closely. The decoy detective repeated the money handover twice: each time, the suspect Thorsten D. literally pocketed the marked bills.

 

At 22:00, Thorsten D. closed the business. Suddenly, he saw the decoy of Kurtz Detective Agency Bremen in front of him:

• “You know why I’m here.”
• Silence.
• “You have two options: either you tell me everything or you tell the police. I might be willing to go easy on you; the police certainly won’t.”

 

Wordlessly, Thorsten D. reopened the business, walked with his head down to his locker, and retrieved an envelope containing banknotes. Our Bremen detective counted and checked the notes, totalling approximately 600 euros.

• “I told you, you had two options. I see 600 euros here, including one marked note. But today I gave you four marked notes – where’s the rest?”
• Thorsten D. visibly slumped: “Sorry, sorry, I really didn’t mean it! Believe me! I still have some in my pocket. I lost track…”
• “Now we will sit down and talk about everything. Your boss and their lawyer are waiting at the back. What you tell me now may help you. If you are honest, we can go easy on you.”

 

Subsequently, Thorsten D. confessed to having stolen approximately 100,000 euros, possibly more, from his employer’s cash register since starting work. He could no longer accurately estimate the total, stating that he had spent some of the money on his studies and to help friends, with a significant portion still in cash at his apartment. Thorsten D. agreed to lead our Bremen investigators and his employer to the hiding place of the stolen sum and immediately hand over the remaining cash. The group, consisting of the employer, lawyer and our Bremen detectives, followed him as agreed and secured over 36,000 euros in cash. During further questioning, Thorsten D. disclosed additional hiding places, handing over a total of over 41,000 euros, which our Bremen private detectives were able to secure.

By a fortunate coincidence for the clients of Kurtz Detective Agency Bremen, Thorsten D. is the son of a reasonably prominent member of Bremen’s political scene. As a result, the following working day, an agreement was quickly reached with a notary to settle the outstanding balance of approximately 60,000 euros from Thorsten D.’s thefts.

 

The clients of Kurtz Detective Agency Bremen were thus spared from staff layoffs and imminent insolvency through our investigations.

To safeguard discretion and the personal rights of clients and target persons, all names and locations in this case report have been altered beyond recognition.

 

Kurtz Detective Agency Bremen

Hollerallee 26

D-28209 Bremen

Tel.: +49 421 3679 9066

E-Mail: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-bremen.de

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