Very few of us earn the large sums of money that we think we deserve, but most teenagers – unless they are among the lucky few whose YouTube channels really take off – are even more needy. All those high-paying, sophisticated jobs go to people with college degrees and MBAs. If you are a minor, have little education and little experience, the best you can hope for is a decent hourly wage and patience to grow.
Tre Brown, a 19-year-old from Gwinnett County, Georgia, on the outskirts of Atlanta, was dissatisfied with his salary at the local Kroger, where he worked at the fuel center, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. But he saw an opportunity and seized it: while the employee responsible for flagging fraudulent transactions went on vacation for two weeks, Brown generated returns for more than 40 non-existent orders, ranging from $ 75 to more than $ 87,000, and invested in several credit cards. The total amount added up to more than $ 980,000.
When theft is so ambitious, people will notice, and most likely sooner or later. What corporate Kroger did. The lawsuits contacted Gwinnett police, who arrested Brown on Jan. 14. Before that, however, Brown had shopped and bought new clothes, weapons and two cars, one of which (a Chevy Camaro) he destroyed just before his arrest.
Brown was released from Gwinnett’s prison on $ 11,200 bail the same day he was arrested. Shortly thereafter, the AJC reports, “a large sum of money” had been returned, but the store no longer answered questions from the newspaper.