A Smethport woman has been charged with embezzling more than $80,000 from Costa’s Supermarket while she worked there as office manager.
Sandra Tunno, 63, of 1 Rosehill Ave., is charged with one count of theft by unlawful taking, a third-degree felony.
According to court records, between May 2, 2011 and May 20, 2013, Tunno took $55,408.81 by “using the refund key to steal money orders” and $25,294.63 by adjusting the accounts receivable and “non-sufficient fund” check accounts.
On Nov. 18, store owner Josh Costa reported the theft to the McKean County District Attorney’s Office, explaining he had been informed May 21 that a store employee had seen Tunno print a money order for herself and not pay for it. Costa reviewed security footage at the store and found the transaction in question. He also found a $350 discrepancy between the totals Tunno had written and what had been received, according to court records.
Members of store management met with Tunno, asked how long she had been stealing from the company and showed her the evidence against her. She said she’d been stealing since September of 2011, and “that she did it because she was in financial ruin due to overspending,” according to court records. She was fired and escorted from the building.
On May 29, she met with Costa and gave him $8,879.49 as repayment; he told her he had already discovered she’d taken more than $40,000. “He said that she seemed surprised at the figure,” the records read. “He then asked her how many ways she was stealing from them.”
Tunno told Costa she was taking only money orders which she used to “pay her bills and credit cards.”
Costa said she had paid back $17,000 more in restitution as well, the records read.
Costa explained to police that since May, he had been working to recreate all the transactions in the store for the past two years. He was able to verify “hundreds of incidents” where Tunno had taken money in the form of money orders, had taken smaller amounts of money “for pocket money,” records read. Costa told police he had found discrepancies in the store’s accounts receivable and bad check accounts as well.
He was able to track $80,703.44 that Tunno had taken, the records allege. By the time the charges were filed, she had repaid $25,879.49 in restitution, the records read.
Tunno was arraigned Thursday before District Judge Bill Todd. She was released on $50,000 unsecured bail. She is scheduled to appear in McKean County Central Court at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
