In the spirit of the spooky season ghosts, goblins and witches come to mind, but one thing we do not think of is a thief. This was not the case for Mr. Ronald J. Bally. In 2019 Mr. Bally was convicted of stealing Halloween costumes valued at over $200,000.00 from the SpookShop.
Mr. Bally began his employment with the SpookShop, a seller of Halloween costumes, in 2004. In 2012 he set up his own business selling Halloween costumes online. In 2016 Mr. Bally left his employment but kept a key to the warehouse in which costumes were stored. In 2017 Mr. Bally was arrested while using the key to enter the warehouse and steal Halloween costumes. Mr. Bally admitted the theft of the Halloween costumes in 2017 and returned 96 boxes full of costumes. After a hearing Mr. Bally was ordered to pay the SpookShop’s owners $204,250.00 in restitution.
If this were your claim, what would come to mind (Employee Theft, On Premises Burglary, Inventory and Profit Exclusion, Valuation, etc.)? It is doubtful Mr. Bally ever handled a Commercial Crime Policy claim, but he might have been good at it, at least when it came to the subject of the Inventory and Profit and Loss Exclusion.
Mr. Bally appealed the restitution amount of his conviction contending that the Court could only set restitution equal to the value of the stolen items in his possession when he was arrested because charges relating to any prior thefts were dismissed as part of his plea agreement.
While the appellate court agreed with Mr. Bally, at a subsequent hearing on restitution, evidence was introduced indicating 75% of Mr. Bally’s online sales involved merchandise he had stolen from the SpookShop. The Court set restitution at 75% of Mr. Bally’s online sales between 2012 to 2017 with an adjustment for shipping costs and the returned items.
In effect the Court used a method wholly apart from an inventory computation (i.e. the amount of the online sales) to determine the amount of restitution.
Pratt, D. (2021, May 17). Former SpookShop employee convicted of theft has money he owes shop owners reduced. Bellingham Herald. https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/crime/article251427573.html