WESTFIELD – A city man has lost his job after he was found to be stealing empty bottles and cans from his employer.
Officer John Barnachez responded Tuesday morning to a report that a person was in the act of stealing redeemable bottles and cans from the redemption center where he was employed at an East Main Street liquor store.
When Barnachez arrive, the caller told him that she had seen an employee place two large bags of redeemable containers into his personal vehicle.
The complainant said that she had been paying particular attention to the employee because the owner of another liquor store had told her that her employee had been bringing large numbers of bottles and cans to his store for redemption.
The woman also told Barnachez that the employee did not know that police had been contacted.
Barnachez reports that he went to the redemption room at the store and found the suspect working there alone.
He reports that when he spoke with the suspect the man readily admitted that he had placed the bags of containers in his car and returned them when Barnachez told him to.
The man told Barnachez that, during the course of his employment at the store, he had frequently taken containers from the store to redeem elsewhere and estimated that he had redeemed bottles and cans for a total of about $600.
The store representative declined to pursue criminal charges and the suspect agreed to make restitution at the rate of $50 per week.
The manager said that the man’s final paycheck, which she said would be about $50, would be withheld as the first installment on the man’s debt.
The former employee was served a ‘No trespassing’ order but he was advised that the order will not apply when he comes to the store to make his weekly restitution payments.
