A ptime employee was terminated and charged with felony theft for a cell phone they accused him of stealing. The employee spent several days in jail until he could get bonded out. At the low level the company would not listen to reason so the case was sent to panel.
At panel we proved that the employee did not steal the phone. He is a bulk driver that drives a mule with the train carts behind him, he only moves oversize packages. He does not unload package cars, trailers etc.
The company stated that he is in possesion of the phone so he stole it. The employee told lp, his bosses, and labor that he bought the phone in the parking lot one night. an employee approached him and several other employees trying to sell a blackberry for $300, they said no way. The employee said cmon i really need money for my family.
So my guy says i will give you a $100, the seller opened up the phone took out his sim card and handed the phone to my guy. What does my guy than do? He registers the phone with ups and receives a property pass.
When he was questioned about it he told ups that he had bought the phone from so and so. This other employee had been fired 3 weeks before for stealing cell phones.
He won his job back at panel and has been back to work for a couple of weeks.
Well the employee asked me if i could come to court with him today so, i took the day, on my own time to go and explain if needed. Ups is pushing the states attorney to continue this case, the states attorney offered him a plea down to guilty on a misdeamenor theft charge. We discussed it and agreed that he is not guilty of the charges that he is charged with.
He now has a trial date set for the middle of november, and i will be at this date and any other dates to assist this employee from wrongful prosecution. I am also filing a complaint with Lisa Madigan, Dick Devine and the ill attorney generals office for allowing ups to waste our tax dollars!
Red, your local should provide access to attorneys both criminal and civil?
Why are you getting involved? Where is his attorney? Hopefully you are NOT giving him legal advice. Under some jurisdictions, this could be a violation of law.
You keep saying "WE" refused this, "WE" said that.
It makes no difference where he bought the phone or from who. Recieving or purchasing stolen merchandise is still against the law. If he didnt know it was stolen, he should have, NOBODY buys a blackberry in parking lots and thinks it legitimate, unless your Tony Soprano.
In this case, there had to be some form of investigation by the district attorneys office to establish a premise for a charge, UPS doesnt set charges.
There had to be enough
Prima facie evidence to make an initial case against this young man. Ignornace is never a logical defense.
I understand he is my teamster brother, but I for one have no sympathy for his situation. A person would have to be a complete
idiot to walk into shipping company parking lot after a shift, see a former employee known to have stolen merchandise from the same company, get solicited for a phone at a 75% discount with no warranty, plan or insurance, pay for it, walk back into the same company and face the scrutiny of UPS security looking at a part time employee with a $500 dollar phone with a $9.50 an hour pay rate and ask for a property pass.
This has to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
My next question is this, Why hasnt the guy who allegedly sold him the phone been charged as well??
If your "pet project" is telling the truth, then he should have already fingered the guys name to the district attorney and this guy arrested and charged with selling stolen merchandise, a crime by the way, UPS would be all OVER.
Now, if your man doesnt want to finger anyone, then shame on him, good luck on the conviction.
A UPS panel case will have no bearing on this case in court. It lacks merit, investigation, or legal premise.
No union contract can violate STATE LAW. So, in other words, if the panel heard the case and determined he was eligible to return to work, yet, the circumstances were still a violation of State Law, then the charges can continue despite returning to work.
Internal theft is a huge problem at our company. I hate it like the next guy.
We had a case last year where a driver was always showing claims on route in the "tens" of thousands of dollars each month. After a lengthy investigation and his house raided, the company found over 50K of merchandise in his home.
He was a "nice" guy too.
He asked everyone for help, we had no choice but the let the law of the land deal with him.
Theft no matter how small is a big deal.
All I can say is I hope his attorney, not you, provide him the proper legal advice and he learns a valuable lesson from the experience.
