Monday, September 7, 2009

South Ozone Park Woman Charged With $12G Shoe Theft - Long Island Press by Timothy Bolger

Read original...

A Queens woman was arrested Tuesday for selling online nearly $12,000 worth of shoes stolen from the Great Neck shoe distributor where she works, according to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

Darsheena Ray, 34, of South Ozone Park, was charged with grand larceny and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead. She faces up to seven years in prison, if convicted.

The distributor, Jimlar Corporation, a retailer and wholesaler of Calvin Klein, Coach and other high-end shoe brands, began investigating in February when a customer service colleague of Ray’s received a phone call from a customer wishing to return a pair of shoes, Rice said. The employee was unable to find any record of payment in the company’s computer system when the customer told the employee that she had the warehouse paperwork confirming shipment from Jimlar, according to the district attorney. The customer added that she used the online payment website PayPal to pay for the shoes and that she bought the shoes on eBay.

The company does not sell shoes on eBay and they do not take payments through PayPal, Rice said.

Later the same day, another call came in from a customer with a similar story who wanted to return a pair of shoes and again the Jimlar representative was unable to locate any sales records. The two calls prompted the vice president of the corporation to conduct an internal review. The case was later referred to the district attorney.

Investigators have identified 30 instances between November 2008 and February 2009 in which Ray used eBay and PayPal to sell shoes belonging to Jimlar for a total loss of $11,770, Rice said.

A Jimlar spokesperson had no comment.