By Stevie Smith Jan 15, 2008, 7:30 GMT
The growing attraction of videogames coupled with hefty hardware prices has one again led to the light-fingered pilfering of equipment from a leading American retailer - only this time by an employee.
K-mart thief caught shifting gaming goodies in packaging for other items. Credit: joka2000.
While the Sheboygan Press doesn’t reveal the per-hour payment rate attributed to the contract of 21-year-old K-mart employee Nathaniel Gustafon, it’s unlikely that his terms of employment as a shop assistant included making up any financial shortfall by helping himself to significant amounts of gaming goodies.
Gustafson admitted to stealing goods worth some $7,218 USD from the K-mart store, which started with sodas before then progressed to DVDs, videogames, a camcorder, and various pieces of gaming hardware.
In executing his opportunistic thievery, Gustafson smuggled out his illicitly-acquired goods in the larger boxes of other in-store electrical items, which he then purchased in order to dodge suspicion.
However, his plan of action fell through when alarms sounded while attempting to leave the store with an Xbox 360 hard drive, two Xbox 360 HD-DVD players, and two PlayStation 3s packed into boxes for a microwave and a toaster oven.
Regardless of whether K-mart pays, the old adage stands that crime certainly doesn’t. Gustafson is now facing up to three years imprisonment if convicted on the charge of felony theft.
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