“Everybody’s going to pay back the money they took and reimburse the owner.
“Essentially, I was trying to help out some of the employees. They were all long-term employees. Some of it got out of hand. No one was stealing it. It’s not like someone was walking out with thousands of dollars of cash with no intention of paying it. It was more like unapproved use of company funds more than theft.”
James Davis, who owns the store, said he didn’t discover the missing money — $39,005.73 according to the Tipp City Police report — until January, when he looked more closely at his books.
He called police, then fired the six who took loans from Chmiel, including Chmiel.
Davis said he was shocked he found so much money missing.
“They just borrowed money and never made any attempt to pay it back, that’s the way I see it,” Davis said. “It started out pretty small, a couple hundred here a couple hundred there. Then people started taking big money.
“I think they were going to pay it back, but again, they made no effort to.”
By Davis’ reckoning, according to a police report, the ex-employees and what they owe include: Kimmi Biggs ($13,385), 30, of New Carlisle; Theresa Pierre ($9,265), 63, of Tipp City; Wanda Rahaim ($7,190), 49, of Tipp City; Paul Chmiel ($5,436); Brad Sprague ($1,805), 33 of New Carlisle and Colette Chmiel ($550), 39 of Vandalia.
“People are just shocked up here that this occurred,” said Tipp City police Sgt. Chris Graham. “People get convinced if their intention is to pay it back, it’s OK.
“Jim Davis kept them on board and trusted them so much, and trusted (their numbers) were right. And all these years, they’ve been wrong.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz @DaytonDailyNews.com.
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