WESTFIELD – A city woman employed at Goodwill did not act in good will while she was managing the store, according to police.
Sarah R. Hoynowski-Curran, was released on her own recognizance Friday after being arraigned in Westfield District Court on charges of larceny over $250 by single scheme.
The defendant allegedly conducted fraudulent voids of transactions while working as the manager of the Goodwill located at 621 E. Main Street.
Hoynowski-Curran, 25, allegedly made 15 fraudulent voids between July 10 and July 24 totaling $1,122.23, according to court records.
Video captured Hoynowski-Curran making 14 of the 15 transactions. The one transaction not caught on camera was done by a manager who had maintained the keys to conduct a transaction void, Westfield Police Det. Todd Edwards wrote in his report. The defendant was the manager at the time of that transaction.
Hoynowski-Curran did not place the void receipts along with the original transaction receipts for tracking with the deposits, which is used to prevent fraud, according to Edwards.
The untracked voids allowed the excess money to be removed from the register when the defendant closed the store and put the deposits in the bags, according to court records.
The first transaction was done on July 10, the second occurred on July 15 and the later transactions were no further than two days apart, Edwards wrote.
“I know from training and experience of investigating embezzlement, an employee will make a ‘test’ transaction,” said Edwards. “This is to see if the theft is detected, then can be explained as a mistake.”
The fraudulent voids were for amounts from $30.05 to $152.39 when a thrift store generally has much smaller transactions of between $0.50 to $50.00, according to court records.
Hoynowski-Curran will be back in court on January 8.
Staff Writer Christine Charnosky can be reached at [email protected]
