For more than 50 years employers have been plagues by light-fingered employees. From hotel personnel stealing towels, soaps and shampoo to desk jockeys pilfering pens, pencils, paper and more – employee theft is a great problem around the world.

An Inside Job

That said, what happened recently in Longmont, Colorado is noteworthy for its audacity. Back in February police were called to Academy Bank in a bank branch located inside a Wal-Mart Superstore where they found bank employee Lizardo Alan Monje tied up with duct tape and gagged. Monje said he had been robbed at knife point.

The robber got away with more than $300,000, an unusually large amount for that branch to have on hand. While surveillance cameras did not capture the robbery, the robbers were not the sharpest tools in the shed.

How to Incriminate Yourself

The first suspect behavior from Monje was his request that store employees photograph him before untying him. He also seemed unusually cool and calm for a person who had just faced a potentially life-threatening situation.

It also turns out that Monje is not the most punctual individual and had gotten to work extremely early. Police followed Monje home and arrested both he and his roommate, one Frank David Gutierrez.

While sitting together in the back of the Longmont police cruiser, the two discussed the robbery including where half of the money was stashed. Of course the Longmont Police department had listening devices in their vehicles. 

Now these two face serious charges including felony theft, conspiracy to commit theft and third-degree burglary.