Former Starbucks Employee Served Up with More Than a Latte

A former Starbuck’s employee claimed as she was taking the day’s receipts to the bank in 2006 thieves pushed her to the ground, injured her, and escaped with $3,000 in cash. She later filed a workers’ comp claim. But Starbucks officials and police believed the woman made the whole thing up in order to steal from the company.

The woman was accused of faking a robbery for the purpose of stealing from her employer, Starbucks, and pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor grand theft charge attorneys report.

As part of a plea bargain the woman made with prosecutors, she was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 18 months of probation Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. The former store manager has paid back the $3,000 she is accused of stealing. She starts serving her sentence in June.

The deal with authorities follows a jury ruling the woman was not guilty of two counts of insurance fraud stemming from workers’ compensation claims she filed following the so-called robbery. Jurors, however, deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction on the remaining 11 insurance fraud and theft counts against the woman. (workersxzcompxzkit)

According to the defense, their client took the deal because she didn’t want to take the risk of being convicted of a felony in the event the case went to trial again. If she finishes her court ordered probation, the woman’s record will be expunged.