Anatomy Of A Fraud

Most fraud victims clam up. In this check-tampering case, the victim-a small-business owner-decided to speak out. The resulting cautionary tale offers a rare, detailed look into the mechanics and psychology of fraud. And its aftermath.

The wretched process of amassing records to find out the amount pilfered by this person that Rosen had trustedhad likedbegan the same day Jackson was sent home. Rosen brought a passel of documents and a phalanx of her employees to her bank to start the paper chase.

Rosen, still unsure if her business would even survive, says that after three hours of waiting she started yelling at the branch manager. Rosen says of the bank personnel, "They weren't doing anything. They didn't have any forms or processes. They were just kind of stunned" by the fraud allegations.

While Rosen was at the bank, back at the Mill Centre, a distraught Rebecca Cason went up one floor to Butch Hodgson's office. Hodgson was a private investigator who had done background checks for Rosen in the past. Cason was too upset to make sense, so Hodgson called Rosen at the bank. Then he understood, and made a plan.

Hodgson had Cason, whom he described as a "mommy figure" to Jackson, call the alleged perp. "He didn't know how much we knew, but he knew he was in trouble. She put me on the phone with him. He said, 'Am I going to jail?' I said, 'I can't answer that. I can tell you that if you cooperate it can't do anything but help you. I know you're nervous and upset. Why don't you come in and we'll talk?'"

Jackson said, "OK."

At the bank, rosen accessed copies of her statements, and almost immediately, she discovered more than a dozen fraudulent checks from the 900 series. One purchased a $54,000 Lexus sport utility vehicle. Another check, Hodgson says, was made out to a hospital, possibly lending credence to Jackson's story of a sick relative. Still, many more checks were unaccounted for, so Rosen told the bank to put a stop on all of the missing Rosen Group checks.

She says that the most helpful institution was Jackson's bank, which called her because Jackson allegedly tried to deposit a $28,000 Rosen Group check at an ATM, and a person reviewing the ATM records thought that that was strange.

Meanwhile, hodgson escorted jackson up past The Rosen Group's floor to his office. He kept Cason with him as a witness, but also to put Jackson somewhat at ease. Hodgson says that Jackson mentioned a sick relative, copped to two or three thefts amounting to $47,000, and promised restitution. According to Hodgson, Jackson denied purchasing anything for himself. "Anyway, he admitted to 47K, which is fine. Forty-seven, a hundred and thirty, that won't change his time. At this point, I knew he was lying to me."