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June 26, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels May 13, 2004 Four charged in Goodwill thefts By John Darling Tidings Correspondent Four employees of the Ashland Goodwill store have been charged with thefts of merchandise totaling around $4,000. Travis Hoover was referred to the district attorney for indictment on Theft I. a felony, for taking merchandise valued at $2,348, while Kerry Alonzo, Deborah Ortiz and Alison Yale were charged with Theft II, a misdemeanor, for taking merchandise under $750, said Ashland Police Sgt. Jim Alderman. The three with misdemeanor charges will appear in Ashland Municipal Court. Goodwill's Southern Oregon manager Steve Martin filed complaints on the four in late April, after an internal investigation of several months, according to police bulletins. Martin declined to comment for this article. The theft of goods was noticed through "regular program monitoring done in the interest of safeguarding the public, which entrusts its resources to us," said Goodwill marketing director Russ Levin in Medford. Goodwill investigators called police after obtaining evidence of the thefts and getting confession statements from the workers, Alderman said. Picking it over Several ex-employees of Ashland Goodwill say they witnessed employees putting dropped-off merchandise in their cars. "All the good stuff was being snagged by intake people and they put all the crap on the floor for customers," former employee Kelly Pagoda said. "The merchandise would go from the vehicle (of the donor) to the ground, where workers would say 'I want that' and then it would go in their vehicle," said Pagoda. "We thought that was unfair but I felt it wasn't my place to speak up. Money paid by customers in the yard never reached the till either. I know because I worked the till." Pagoda said that by Goodwill policy, employees were only allowed to buy goods after they've been priced and on the floor for 24 hours. Former employee Danielle Peplinski said she witnessed removal of small amounts of merchandise by employees and regularly saw workers remove goods after they'd been on the floor only a few hours. Former worker Amanda Brinegar said she saw glassware, vases, CD's, clothes and books regularly set aside by employees and removed without apparent payment. "I had a lot of reason to say something, but I didn't," she noted. Another former employee, who asked not to be named, said he witnessed thefts by workers but "that could be said of any retail store in America." The atmosphere at the store was "challenging" for both customers and workers, he added. RAGS Members of RAGS - Reclaim Ashland's Goodwill Store - organized earlier this year to gather comments from workers and customers, so as to seek remedial action from Goodwill management in Medford, said Ashley Offill, owner of Prospero's Books and a member of the group. Victoria Vannice, assistant manager of Prospero's, said, "The quality of merchandise getting to the shelves declined noticeably since last year. It looked very suspicious. We shopped there daily and were not finding the stuff we used to find, which doesn't make sense in a wealthy community like Ashland." RAGS member Kyr Arnsugr said the group maintained a file of letters they'd written to Goodwill headquarters in Medford, complaining of ill treatment by employees and asking for an explanation of the declining availability of goods. Levin said the Ashland store is "having a fantastic year with very strong sales, so if some people are perceiving a decline in the quality of merchandise, most people aren't or they wouldn't be shopping there." RAGS members conducted their own investigation into possible theft, but lacking sufficient evidence, went to Ashland Police, who told them police couldn't investigate an internal theft without a complaint from the wronged party, which would be the Goodwill corporation, said Alderman. Tim Alford, board chair of Southern Oregon Goodwill and president of Rogue Federal Credit Union, said staff "strenuously and vigorously" investigated the thefts as soon as they were alleged. "No one feels worse about this than the board and staff," Alford said. "We suspected from hearsay that something was going on there. We try to be aware (of theft) but if you have drop-offs and if there are unscrupulous employees, this can happen." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams