$30)$ Please read the following article that appeared in the Hartford Courant $30$ years ago. Ms$.$

Sales$$ opportunity is obvious $($she had access to cash, checks and the accounting records$),$

unfortunately her motivation for committing the fraud is not mentioned in the article. A follow$-$

up article revealed that she regularly went to both Foxwoods Casino and the Mohegan Sun

Casino and that she gambled and lost the entire $$144,833$ that she was accused of taking,

meaning that it is unlikely she will ever pay back the money she had taken.

There are several important characteristics $($different from opportunity and motivation$)$ which

appear in many fraud cases. Please describe at least three of these characteristics that are

described in the article. You must refer to the $$Fraud Checklist$$ that I posted with this exam on

BlackBoard $($or I will deduct double the points$)$:

POLICE CHARGE FORMER CLERK WITH LARCENY

By BLANCA M$.$ QUINTANILLA and ANITA M$.$ SELINE; Courant Staff Writers

THE HARTFORD COURANT

A city worker once trusted to handle all the daily cash receipts in the Hartford vital records department

fed fictitious information into her computer and pocketed more than $$144,000$ during her three years

on the job, police charged Monday. In a warrant issued Monday, former city employee Migdonia Sales,

$36,$ was charged with first$-$degree larceny and two counts of first$-$degree forgery, police said. The

warrant also charges her with forging and cashing two checks totaling $$404.$

Sgt$.$ Frank Rudewicz, commander of the police department's intelligence division, said Sales pocketed

$$144,833$ over a $36-$month period. "The investigation revealed that Sales had sole responsibility for the

accounting of daily receipts with the department of vital statistics," Rudewicz said. "That means she

handled all the cash that came into the office."

Police said the scheme was uncovered when Sales was put in charge of training another woman in the

same department. The woman became suspicious and reported the irregularities to Henry Langley,

registrar of vital records, police said. Langley then reported them to police in December.

Langley said Sales resigned after he confronted her. He said the theft had gone on for three years

because the department had no checks in place that would have detected it sooner. Langley said he

plans to develop tighter security measures in the department, which issues marriage licenses, birth

certificates, death certificates and burial permits.

Police said Sales sometimes would delete computer entries for $30$ to $60$ certificates a day. She would

then pocket the money for the certificates, which cost about $$5$ apiece, police said. She would enter

false information for the number of certificates issued that day, police said. One day, when the office

brought in about $$213,$ the records showed only $$13$ had been taken in$.$ "She would take between $$200$

and $$300$ in cash a day," Rudewicz said.

ACCT $1130$ Fall $2024$ Exam #$4($Final Exam$)$

$8$

Police said city officials began to notice a pattern when Sales was not at work or when she was away on

vacation. "When she was around, money disappeared $...$ when she was not around, there was no

missing money."

P$.$S$.$ Sadly, the City of Hartford never instituted the tighter security measures mentioned above,

because a similar fraud occurred in $2022.$ This time, the employee knew she was being investigated, so

she came to work on a Saturday and shredded several years of records. The auditors determined that

$$16,910$ was stolen between July $2019$ and February $2020,$ but the rest of the records are gone forever.

She had worked for the City of Hartford for $34$ years, including the time the earlier fraud took place. She

was fired from her position but most of the money that was stolen $($well over $$100,000)$ is gone forever.

By the way, if you are a Hartford resident, in both instances that$$s your money that was stolen, because

that$$s taxpayer money that could have been used to repair potholes, improve the school system, extend

public library hours, remove trash from public parks, purchase new firefighting equipment, or pay for

any of the innumerable things that a large city needs. Sorry!