William O. "Bill" James Criminal Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Woman Faces Theft Charges For False Ink Cartridges Returns

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by William O. "Bill" James

A 41-year-old woman made her first court appearance on three felony theft charges for allegedly making almost $5,800 in fake ink cartridges returns at an Office Max in Minnesota.

Kelly Marie Lipinski was released on her personal recognizance and ordered to have no contact with the Office Max store or employees. She is scheduled to appear in court in Kandiyohi County District Court on Jan. 11, 2010.

According to the complaint, loss prevention personnel at Office Max contacted police in September and reported that there were an unusually high number of returns of cash refunds at the local store. The returns were for mainly printer cartridges and were recorded by Lipinski. The case came to light because the return of ink cartridges are not typically re-inventoried because they are usually opened when returned.

The Office Max officials had tracked down a customer who had purportedly made a return, logged by Lipinski. The person denied making the return. The officials had already interviewed Lipinski, who allegedly admitted to making the false returns, then taking cash refunds at the end of her shift. She reported the theft was about $3,682.04 on 44 returns this year, and about $4,800 last year. She had given a written admission to the store officials. Lipinski was interviewed by police and explained she had looked up the electronic receipts in the store’s computer, picked cash transactions, entered a refund and then took the cash at the end of her shift. The total theft was for $5,776.67 from July 2008 to August 2009.

On a different note, a Bridgewater, NJ resident charged with shoplifting printer ink cartridges from Costco.
Hoa Nguyen, 56, of East Main Street in Bridgewater was arrested and charged with shoplifting $82.99 worth of HP ink cartridges from Costco.

For more information on what to expect in a criminal case, please contact a criminal lawyer in Arkansas at the James Law Firm at 1-800-377-2804.

Posted at 15:35 PM

Topic: Criminal Law