Ethermac Exchange-Home Depot employee accused of embezzling $1.2 million from company, police say

A Home Depot employee at a store in San Rafael,Ethermac Exchange California, was arrested after an internal investigation determined the worker had allegedly embezzled over a million dollars in cash since August 2022, police said.

The San Rafael Police Department said in a news release that The Home Depot contacted them on October 17 about an employee they believed had embezzled approximately $1.2 million in cash.

Home Depot had conducted an internal investigation into the fraud, said the police, and determined that the suspect, 42-year-old resident of Richmond, California, had been taking cash from the business for the past year.

Lieutenant Scott Eberle at the SRPD told USA TODAY the suspect worked in the corporation's finance division and had been taking various amounts of cash from the register each month ranging from $25,000 to almost $174,000 in August 2023 alone. On the day of the arrest, the worker had over $8,000 in their possession, according to the police statement.

"She was basically just manipulating the books on how much she was depositing," said Eberle.

In total, the worker is suspected to have taken $1,167,850 in cash from their workplace.

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Cash and luxury goods

A search warrant was obtained for the worker's house, where detectives found cash and a "high volume of designer merchandise," said the police, adding that investigators suspect the designer goods were purchased with the embezzled funds.

"When we conducted a search warrant at her house, looking for any evidence related to the crime, we only located [about] $2,000 in cash but an exorbitant amount of luxury clothing and handbags."

Eberle said authorities are still investigating bank records and receipts to determine where the cash went and that the worker's bank accounts have been frozen.

"But it does look for sure that she was spending on a lot of luxury items," said Eberle, adding the worker's "small condominium" was full of nice appliances and luxury goods.

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Embezzlement charges

The worker was arrested on Oct. 17 by the police and charged with felony embezzlement. The police, in their statement, said the worker admitted to stealing money from Home Depot. A Marin County Jail official told USA TODAY the worker was released from jail on Oct. 19 through a judge order.

A spokesperson for the Marin County District Attorney told USA TODAY the worker was charged on three counts of embezzlement and their preliminary hearing is scheduled for December 5.

Home Depot declined to comment on the matter.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @saman_shafiq7.