Employee Theft on The Rise (Channel 4 Detroit news segment 8/29/10)

Employee Theft on The Rise with The Downward Economy. This Channel 4 Detroit news segment from 8/29/10 also highlights the local case of a GM financial executive caught stealing office equipment and selling it on e-Bay. She was fired and is being prosecuted!

News Anchor:
Tonight a local 4 Defenders investigation. A local woman with a

good job, a good life now facing possible time in federal prison for something she was doing at work.

Local 4 Defender Kevin Dietz shows us something that millions of Americans do all the time.

Kevin Dietz:
Ever steal anything from the office?

You're not alone more than one in three employees have taken home office supplies or work equipment.

Costing the average business thousands of dollars every year.

Tonight you're going to meet a suburban woman who stole from the office and it may have ruined her life.

Lois McLachlan may not be that different from you or I.

She lives in a nice home. Takes her dogs for walks around her upscale Rochester Hills neighborhood.

She's provided a good life for her children by putting in years of service through her employer in exchange for nice paycheck.

But according to these federal documents obtained by the Defenders

Lois is accused of doing something many of us do.

She took home merchandise that belongs to her employer.

Be honest have you ever done that.

Woman on the Street:
Yeah like pencils stuff like that.

Another Woman on Street:
I don't see it happen, but I hear about it all the time.

Kevin Dietz:
A national survey found 37 percent of employees

admit to theft of office supplies. That’s more than 1 in 3,

but for most people office supplies is as far as they go.

The same survey said 18 percent of employees
will steal money or work products.

Metro Detroiters we talked to say that's going too far.

Man on the street:
Since I didn't buy it, you know why would I take something and then sell it for my own gain.

Woman on the street:
May be more common now because the economy, but certainly not any less wrong.

Kevin Dietz:
Which brings us back to Los McLachlan. For 10 years she worked at General Motors.

The last few as senior executive support an expert in technology.

According to federal officials she noticed computer equipment just laying around the office that no one ever used, so she took it

and decided to sell it on e-bay. The money deposited in her personal bank account.

Dr. Gerald Shiener – Psychiatrist:
If you work for General Motors or a large employer you have a

supervisor but he's pretty much in the same boat you’re in and there's no face

to attach to what you're taking and so there's no guilt.

Kevin Dietz:
Dr. Gerald Shiener, is a Birmingham psychiatrist.

He says many employees will steal office supplies with little worry of consequences and little remorse.

Dr. Gerald Shiener:
Sometimes there are there some people who are very good at their job,

but they’re sociopaths. They don't feel guilt they feel entitled to do what

they want they think the rules don't apply to them and they can do something like this without feeling bad about it.

Kevin Dietz:
But says when people steal more expensive items from

work and do it frequently something more troubling is usually behind it.

Dr. Gerald Shiener:
It can escalate. Sometimes people get mad at their employers

and they act out their resentment by taking things, or taking money.

Kevin Dietz:
Lois McLachlan apparently wasn't satisfied with stealing just the unused equipment

laying around the office. She started convincing vendors to use corporate credit cards

to buy new equipment that she would also sell on the Internet.

After a year of reselling GM property online her scheme was uncovered her world unravel.

Fired from her former senior executive support job and now facing federal charges that could land her in prison for up to five years.

Could we talk to you for a sec Lois? We tried to ask Lois about the allegations and get her side of the story,

but when she saw our Defenders cameras she'd beelined it for her front door refusing to come out an answer any questions.

Dr. Shiener said if you feel tempted to steal from work seek help now before it becomes a federal offense.

Dr. Gerald Shiener:
Once you cross that line uh there's another theory that deep down

inside you feel so bad about it that you escalate and escalate until you get caught.

Kevin Dietz:
We contacted General Motors about the theft and their workplace policies.

They say they have no comment on any legal matters involving employees.

To see the entire criminal complaint and get all the details you can go to our

website at clickondetroit.com.
Kevin Dietz, Defenders