"Nobody can understand the devastation we are going through.”

This is a quote from a business owner at the sentencing of his “trusted” bookkeeper for the theft of over $700k.  In this specific case, http://bit.ly/KJQnlJ, the trusted bookkeeper had a drug addicted son she thought she could help stay out of jail by giving him money. 

 Unfortunately I can understand this devastation.  I see it with all of my clients. They come to me at probably one of the most difficult times in their lives.  All of what they thought they knew about a person is gone.  And most of the time the person who stole was like a member of their family.  One woman I know whose husband was a medical professional referred to the office manager as the “second wife.”  This person is like the second wife.  The woman who ends up stealing from you knows you inside and out.  Several of the cases I have worked this trusted employee has isolated the business owner from others who may have seen signs of distrust. 

 This is also a familiar story for many of the formerly trusted female employees who steal.  Many of them, excluding the sociopaths, steal for a “relationship.”  Men steal for the 3 W’s-wine, women and wager.  But according to Dorothy Zietz, http://amzn.to/1iE4Ewa, women steal for more of a Joan of Arc reason.  They steal because they think it will help them deal with personal or relationship issues.  I often wonder if the people they think they are stealing for are around for them when they get caught???