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Bizarre HR: Thieving employees caught red-handed

If you’ve ever wondered where your mail had gone, or found yourself short of a few items after a flight, you might want to blame these guys.

This week, a postal worker in Ohio was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stuffing stolen mail down his pants.

Terrence R. McLean pleaded guilty to 71 counts of mail theft, 12 counts of receiving stolen mail and two counts of assaulting a federal officer, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

McLean was caught hiding the mail in his underwear and socks in June, after investigators saw him remove the contents of envelopes and stuff them into his clothes. Yesterday he was ordered to pay restitution of US$2,640 (S$3,269).

Another employee at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was allegedly caught stealing shotguns, revolvers and other weapons from passengers’ checked luggage, who had connections through the busy airport.

David Vang has been charged with 11 felony counts, including 10 counts of theft of a firearm, Fox News andAssociated Press reported.

A spokesman from the airport said authorities had learned weapons had gone missing, so airport security set up surveillance cameras.

A review of the footage allegedly shows Vang removing items from bags and taking them to his wife, who was waiting in a vehicle outside.

Several boxes containing firearms, a crossbow, iPads, laptops, mobile phones, jewellery and other electronics – a total of 716 items valued at more than $84,000 – were removed from his apartment.

Vang was arrested in October and is no longer working at the airport, a spokesman told Fox News.

Although these employees didn’t get away with theft, many do, and the recession has been blamed for the increase in employee fraud.

A report published by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners said it often takes 18 months to uncover incidents of employee theft, so most of the fraud that took place during the recession is only coming to light now.

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