IOur latest edition of Stupid Things People Do For Sneakers reveals that even those who work with footwear on a daily basis are not immune to being seduced by the dark side of the sneaker force.
A New Balance manager has been charged with stealing thousands of dollars worth of shoes from the company’s South Union Street factory. According to a police report 43-year-old Wilson Suarez was arrested and charged with larceny of property valued over $1,200 from a building.
BREAKING New Balance factory manager charged with sneaker thefts https://t.co/Q16M0ypIBG @eagletrib
— Jill Harmacinski (@EagleTribJill) November 29, 2018
According to the report, Suarez was possibly part of “an ongoing theft ring” at the factory and that New Balance security had been tipped off that Suarez had been stealing shoes for years. Detective Patrick Noonan further states in the report that previous workers at the plant “were hesitant to come forward and point out theft and fraud.” Suarez, who was a manager in the scheduling department, is accusaed of pilfering at least two pairs of shoes per day. He would bring the sneakers back to his cubicle, hide them and “then put them in his bag before he leaves for the day,” wrote Noonan.
New Balance security relayed to Detective Noonan that Mr. Suarez ships “the sneakers back home to the Dominican Republic for a fee and receives profit.”
Suarez own words helped to be his undoing, as according to the report: “… Suarez apparently has made comments to some workers that he ships the sneakers to the D.R. and the people are always happy when he goes there and hands them out.”
Once NB security was onto Suarez, they surveilled him for two weeks and in that time they observed Suarez bringing sneakers back to his desk, hide them under his desk and “once he’s about the leave for the day, Suarez takes the sneakers out of the boxes and puts him in his computer bag, then departs the building.”
On multiple occasions a New Balance security officer stated he “has seen Suarez counting large sums of money at his desk, splitting the money into individual packs” after which Suarez would leave his cubicle.
Detective Noonan’s report stated that Suarez was to be dismissed from his job following him being taken in police custody.
