Kindergarten Kitchen Scandal: Embezzlement with Health Consequences

Ruthless Conduct Causes Personal Harm – Case Example from Our Detective Agency in Magdeburg*

More than 100,000 people are employed in Magdeburg, many of them have children of preschool age who are cared for during working hours in one of the city’s approximately 130 daycare centers. In most cases, the children are well looked after there and receive comprehensive care, but there are also regrettable exceptions, as our detectives in Magdeburg know from one of their cases:

Mysterious Wave of Illness – Investigating the Cause

In a daycare center in Magdeburg, there was a sudden increase in illnesses among the children, who were increasingly suffering from nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. At first, no one directly connected the symptoms with the facility; the parents of the sick children simply excused them from attendance for the relevant days with the director, Ms. Zerbst. During a parents’ meeting, conversations revealed that all the children showed the same symptoms, which led Ms. Zerbst to suspect internal causes and identify possible sources of infection.

 

The facility director’s inquiries included, among other things, a conversation with the in-house cook as well as a thorough inspection of the kitchen and supplies. The cook, Thomas M., had been working at the daycare center for half a year. He apparently performed his job satisfactorily and was also popular with the children. The refrigerator and freezer temperatures were correct, the food was apparently fresh, the kitchen was clean, and Ms. Zerbst could find no signs of unhygienic conditions. But how reckless the cook’s conduct really was was something our detective agency in Magdeburg was still to discover.

Daycare Cook Under Investigation

A few days after the facility director’s fruitless inquiries, the already familiar symptoms appeared in more children, which increased the pressure on Ms. Zerbst to find the cause. From her husband, who from personal experience thought little of Thomas M. and had already advised against hiring him at the outset (both had grown up in the same small community), she received the tip to carefully check the cook and, if necessary, take over the food purchases herself, which she was unable to do due to a lack of time. To obtain professional advice, Ms. Zerbst called our corporate detective agency for Magdeburg (+49 341 3549 012-0) and explained the situation. She expressed the suspicion that Thomas M. might have had something to do with the incidents, but she could not identify any sufficient indication that pointed to any kind of misconduct.

 

Our experienced detectives proposed observing Thomas M. during his shopping trips to determine whether anything unusual would occur. On the shopping trip the next day – after the daycare center had already closed – our investigators followed the cook as he completed his shopping list, but nothing unusual came to light. After shopping, he did not return to the daycare center but drove directly home, took part of the groceries out of the trunk there, and carried them into his apartment. After that, he was no longer seen. Our private detectives in Magdeburg contacted Ms. Zerbst for a phone report, whereupon she stated that Thomas M. often pre-cooked dinner for the next day at home in the evenings. Accordingly, surveillance for that evening was called off.

No Signs of Wrongdoing

The next morning, the cook came to his car with two large pots and drove them to the daycare center. He made no stops and otherwise showed no unusual behavior, which is why our detectives ended the surveillance upon arrival at the daycare center. In a conversation with the client, the operations manager explained that, apart from the unusual practice of preparing the food at home, nothing conspicuous had been documented. If the cook was indeed responsible for the children’s illnesses, then the cause had to lie in the time he spent preparing meals at home. After all, neither the checks in the daycare kitchen nor the observation of his public activities had revealed anything unusual.

 

In light of this, Ms. Zerbst and our detective team in Magdeburg jointly considered checking other suspects or looking for the cause of the illnesses elsewhere. However, since no conclusive indications of wrongdoing by third parties emerged and Ms. Zerbst, according to her own statement, increasingly no longer trusted the cook despite the previously unremarkable findings (“just a feeling”), we continued to focus on Thomas M. Her intuition would prove correct.

Deploying a Private Detective in the Daycare Center

One of our experienced corporate detectives for Magdeburg, a mid-30s man who could appear significantly younger if needed, was placed undercover in the daycare center as an alleged intern, where he was to assist the cook with his work. Thanks to his previous career with the criminal police, our undercover investigator has a wealth of experience when it comes to gaining a person’s trust and uncovering secrets through skillful questioning. Undercover assignments in companies are the ideal way for a detective to build personal relationships with suspects and collect internal information that is withheld from supervisors. However, this investigative tactic must be learned and can only be used successfully with a great deal of tact.

 

And indeed: our corporate investigator very quickly managed to analyze the cook’s character so accurately that he could play a role with this knowledge that immediately won Thomas M. over. The role our detective portrayed and the suspect became friends, and after just four days Thomas M. confided in the supposed intern over several bottles of beer and several shots of liquor about his scheme:

“Drunk People and Children Always Tell the Truth” – Undercover Detective Loosens the Perpetrator’s Tongue

Clearly intoxicated, the cook revealed that he had a deal with a wholesaler from whom he always bought for the daycare center. He took from the wholesaler’s store everything that was currently in stock and could be processed, including items that were (in some cases significantly) past their prime, in order to receive substantial discounts. The wholesaler then sent him an electronic invoice by email, without noting on the individual line items that the goods were expired and therefore reduced. Thomas M. received the invoice as a PDF document, and since he had “cracked” Adobe Acrobat Pro, he could easily change the figures so that he could submit falsified receipts with inflated amounts to accounting and pocket the difference himself. “Zerbst does not understand anything anyway!” he continued in his charming manner.

 

Our legend-bearer detective expressed his feigned respect for this “brilliant” idea, but objected that the tax office might one day notice the different invoices. “Oh, by the time they catch on, I’ll have already made myself scarce!” was the answer. And the children, apart from “their food going down the wrong way and a bit of diarrhea,” had not been harmed either. If parents expect high-quality food for their children, then they can serve them caviar and lobster. He had to see for himself where he stood.

Undeserved, but Sensible from a Self-Protection Standpoint: The Perpetrator Gets Off with a Warning

Based on the documented incidents, our private detective agency in Magdeburg prepared a court-admissible investigative report and handed it over to the client. That Thomas M. was summarily dismissed goes without saying. He will likely still escape criminal consequences, since public prosecution of the case would with great certainty have considerable negative effects on Ms. Zerbst and her facility. Accordingly, the daycare director paid the greater part of the detective fees out of her own pocket.

 

If you also suspect that one of your employees is disloyal and enriching themselves at your expense or – as in this case – at the expense of third parties, then do not hesitate to involve our detectives for Magdeburg. Call us at +49 341 3549 012-0 or use our encrypted contact form to send an email describing the circumstances. In addition to the financial damage caused by embezzlement by employees, there is always also the threat of reputational damage, which can sometimes be even more serious. Our private investigators are familiar with this sensitive issue and know how to carry out their investigations discreetly.

*Notice*

Note: For reasons of discretion and data protection, the locations and certain personal details have been altered without changing the substance of the actual events.

 

*Note: All assignments of Aaden Commercial Detective Agency Leipzig are processed by our operations management in Leipzig. We have a network of qualified, vetted investigators who can be active on site for you within a short time.

Aaden Corporate Detective Agency Leipzig

Brünner Straße 10

D-04209 Leipzig

Tel.: +49 341 3549 012-0

Fax: +49 341 3549 012-9

E-Mail: info@aaden-detektive-leipzig.de

Web: https://aaden-detektive-leipzig.de/en

 

CEO: Maya Grünschloß, PhD

Register Court: Amtsgericht Köln

Registration Number: HRB 83824