A bookkeeper in a $3 million retail company had earned the trust of her supervisor, so various functions normally reserved for management were assigned to her, including the authority to issue and authorize customer refunds. She proceeded to issue refunds to nonexistent customers and created documents with false names and addresses. She adjusted the accounting records and stole about $15,000 cash. She was caught when an internal audit sent routine confirmations to customers on a mailing list and received excessive “return-to-sender” replies. The investigation disclosed a telling pattern. The bookkeeper initially denied accusations but admitted the crime upon presentation of the evidence.
You are a lawyer for the retail company. Now that the fraud has been detected, would you prosecute her criminally, civilly, or both? What process would you use to try to recover the $15,000?