-
Login
-
Digital Edition
-
Print Edition
- Most Commented
- Most Commented
- Most Emailed
- Most Emailed
- Popular
- Popular
« News Home
Mineral Ridge man to face hearing in work-theft case
TweetThe man told police the thefts started because of financial problems at home.
staff report
BOARDMAN — A Mineral Ridge man is to return to court next month for a preliminary hearing, accused of taking money from his employer.
Albert Akins Jr., 53, of Webb Road, was charged with felony theft and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.
His preliminary hearing was set for Feb. 24 in Mahoning County Area Court.
Akins was interviewed Friday by police after the owner of Canteen Services, South Avenue, reported an employee theft.
The company had surveillance photos that showed Akins removing a money bag from a locked locker and concealing it in his coat, a police report said. After being confronted with that, Akins acknowledged that he began stealing money back in 2007 but said he paid it back, the report said.
Akins then said he stole money from the company’s vending and change machines beginning in January 2008 because of financial problems at home. He said he would change the meter reading on each machine to cover the amount of money he took. The meter accounted for total sales and change made on each machine, the police report said.
When Detective Ben Switka told Akins that since last January, the company’s total loss on Akins’ route was $10,513, Akins said that sounded about right but that he wasn’t sure of the exact total, the report said.
The money bag taken from the business Friday was found in Akins’ car, and Akins also admitted that he had a marijuana pipe and a small bag containing marijuana in the car’s ashtray, police said.
Akins was released after posting bond.
Comments
"The money bag taken from the business Friday was found in Akins’ car, and Akins also admitted that he had a marijuana pipe and a small bag containing marijuana in the car’s ashtray, police said."
It looks like he needed the money to support his drug habit.
Once again, the news media does NOT finish reporting the story. First off, my father REPAID Mr. Bill Russell the entirety from the 401k money that was released to him. Every cent was of that money was repaid in full.
Second, he couldn't pay his bills because my brother, his exgirlfriend and their son lived at his house for months without helping support themselves. My brother and the girl were in their early 20s at the time, and they ran up bills that he could not afford.
Third, Mr. Russell would not give my father a loan from his 401k money so he could pay the bills.
Now, I don't approve of what my father did. In fact, I'm down right ashamed of it. For crying out loud, he could have, and should have come to me for the money, because I had enough to bail him out. But, he turned his life around because of it. He's kicked his drug habit, and is attending both Narcotics anonymous and is getting drug treatment. He's started attending church as well. He is serving 30 days in a minimum security prison for petty theft, a reduced charge than what he was originally charged with.
Heck, Detective Switka and the prosecuting attorney wanted leniency for my father. They only wanted him serve 10 days. But the vindictive, greedy jerk that Mr. Russell is, he wanted my father to serve 60 days, because "he didn't repay completely with his money. I put money in that 401k". The only reason he relented was the fact that the defending attorney threatened to take things to a grand jury.
And you people who have judged my father make me sick. No one has the right to judge another, because we are all far from perfect. Not one person on this planet has not done something wrong in their lifetimes. My father is gladly paying the consequences for his actions, and he plans to become a better person because of it.