Jewelry vault manager smuggles out $12M in her purse over 6 year period

[underpants]

Gold bars at a bank depot.R eports Thursday said that for six years a woman used a purse with a false bottom to steal tiny amounts of gold from the New York jewelry manufacturer where she was a vault manager. By the time she was caught she had amassed 500 pounds (227 kilos), equivalent to almost 31 gold bars.
(AFP/File/Jung Yeon-Je)

Woman Allegedly Smuggled $12M in Gold Bars Using Purse
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518456,00.html
A longtime employee of a major Queens jewelry manufacturer stole a staggering 500 pounds of gold by smuggling it in her handbag over a nearly six-year period, prosecutors announced.

Teresa Tambunting, 50, of Scarsdale, N.Y., allegedly stole the shiny merchandise by concealing it in a false bottom she created in the lining of her pocketbook, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Wednesday.

"With gold trading at nearly $900 an ounce, the defendant is accused of establishing a virtual mining operation in Long Island City which siphoned off millions of dollars' worth of the precious metal from her employer," Brown said.

Officials at Jacmel Jewelry in Long Island City, where Tambunting had worked for 28 years, noticed they were missing up to $12 million worth of gold in January.

After an investigation was launched, Tambunting, who became a vault manager in 1991, arrived at Jacmel's offices with a suitcase containing 66 pounds of gold with an estimated value of $868,000. Tambunting allegedly told detectives that she had taken the gold, Brown said. A subsequent search of her home revealed 447 pounds of fine gold. The thefts allegedly occured between January 2004 and April 2009, Brown said.

[Berry Cool]

1. She was a vault manager and they didn't make her use a transparent pocketbook at work?

Holy cats.

I have two sisters who have worked in retail, and both of them had to carry transparent purses when on the job--specifically so they couldn't steal anything. They also had to subject themselves to inspection by store security before leaving work.

This woman is a thief, but this jeweler is also DUMB.

[Anakin Skywalker]

2. What Were You Doing Looking @ Faux News Anyway?

I'm just teasing. ;-)

[underpants]

6. It's a long story but it involves a fake purse

these heels are KILLING me

:bounce:

[Anakin Skywalker]

3. Holy Shit! How Was...

she not caught until now? Don't tell me they didn't have video surveillance at this joint?!

[Hannah Bell]

4. it took 5 years to notice they were short millions? weird.

[underpants]

5. Looks to me like she took it in bits and pieces

:shrug:

[KharmaTrain]

7. Price Of Gold Has Tripled In The Past 2 Years...

I find it interesting that such a shortfall, even at a lower price, went unnoticed for so long, but not unbelieveable. A coin or bullion is easy to slip in one's change purse or slip in with pocket change...a coin here and there, soon it adds up to real money.

My bets are when the price started to skyrocket, someone dropped the dime on her. As you say, it took 5 years to notice? Surely there had to be suspicions.