A woman who stole $33,350.09 from her employer in just under two years via fake shoe returns has been sentenced in Orange Local Court.
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Tennille Smith, 38, of Bauer Place, created the fictitious shoe returns between October 30, 2016, and September 24, 2018.
According to information tendered to the court, Smith worked for Australain Footwear, now the Munro Footwear Group at Mathers between April 22, 2009, and October 4, 2018.
She was employed as second in charge at the time of the offences which were detected during an audit.
According to police, the company's information technology department conducted the audit in September 2018, which identified unusual transaction activity at the Orange store.
An investigation into the transactions showed that between October 30, 2016, and September 24, 2018, refunds to the value of $33,350.09 were made to an eftpos card and each refund was processed by Smith.
The refunds were also often processed using the same receipt number.
It was like an addiction
- Tennille Smith
On October 4, 2018, Smith was called into a disciplinary meeting regarding the matter and during the meeting she admitted to stealing from the business.
Smith's employment was terminated the next day and her annual leave valued at $2233.96 was withheld by the company.
The matter was reported to police on November 16, 2018, and police then seized bank statements showing the transactions, which matched the company's list.
When she was questioned by police Smith said she was "just trying to make ends meet" and "it was like an addiction".
Smith was convicted and given an 18-month intensive correction order which, if breached, could be revoked by probation and parole resulting in full-time jail.
She was also ordered to repay the remaining $31,116.13, taking into account the money withheld by the company, and she is to complete 100 hours of community service.
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