Worried about employees stealing from your automatic carwash? We hope not.
We recently found a story about a man stealing money from a carwash for over a decade—cumulatively getting away with stealing over $400,000. The good news is he’s been caught and sentenced.
The Alaska Dispatch recently reported that a self-described “survivalist” named Steven Berry began working at a carwash called Mudbusters carwash in 1999. He quit suddenly in 2009 and the carwash started seeing record profits almost immediately. This set off alarm bells that Berry might have been stealing from them for a decade.
Berry was ultimately tried, and convicted, of first-degree theft of more than $25,000, a Class B felony. The state plans to seek up to $415,000 in restitution.
According to the Alaska Dispatch:
“Karen Mahoy, co-owner of Mudbusters and its three Wasilla locations, asked employee Paul Montanez to pick up coins at the bank… Twice, Berry stopped at the Alaska USA Federal Credit Union and walked inside alone, lugging five-gallon buckets nearly full with quarters.”
“But, as it turned out, Mudbusters never banked at Alaska USA.”
It seems that Berry had been raiding the company coin vaults for years and taking home $1,000 bricks of dollar coins from the bank.
Yikes. Lesson learned. Keep a close eye on your books, everyone.
If you have any questions about automatic carwash systems or carwash equipment, please don’t hesitate to contact us any time.