Repo Employee Arrested for Theft

Upper Nazareth Township, PA – December 18, 2012 –  A 22 year old repo employee fired in October has been arrested and charged with counts of fraud, theft and receiving stolen goods.

The employee, Timothy A. Fegely, was reportedly fired from his job at Upstate Recovery LLC on October 28 amidst allegations that he had stolen an Apple MacBook A1181 laptop as well as some money the company kept in a coffee cup.

Fegely reportedly, returned the laptop and some of the money the same day he was fired but was also confronted with the allegation that he used a company credit card to pay a $141 bill on his cell phone that had been shut off.

An arrest warrant was approved on November 21 and on Sunday night, he was arraigned and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $20,000 bail.

According to the criminal complaint filed by Upper Nazareth Officer Jake Carrick, Fegely was charged with:

• Access device fraud. For allegedly using a company credit card to pay his Sprint Wireless bill of $140.98 on Oct. 19.
• Two counts of theft by unlawful taking. One was for allegedly taking the laptop, with an estimated value of $1,000 and the other for allegedly taking $535 from the coffee cup. Both the laptop and the cash belonged to Upstate Recovery, according to the charges.
• Two counts of receiving stolen property, one for the laptop and one for the coffee cup money.

Carrick’s detailed complaint describes a confusing and inconsistent series of allegations and responses on Oct. 28.

Fegely allegedly first reported that the cash and laptop missing when he reported to work on Oct. 28, telling office manager in a telephone call that he found the office window open with papers blown all around and the money missing from the coffee cup where it was kept, officials said.

The manager then allegedly told Fegely that if the money and laptop were not found, she would file a police report and contact the landlord, who has surveillance cameras on the outside of the building.

Fegely phoned the manager a second time and reported that he had found the money, which he claimed had fallen into a shredding bin underneath a desk in the office, then later told the manager he found the money and dropped it off at her house.

Where was the laptop, she asked him. He said he had forgotten about it but would drop if off later.

He had also told another employee he couldn’t find the money or the laptop, but later sent the employee a text message saying he found both.

Fegely dropped off $360 from the coffee cup, but the manager thought there was $685 in the cup, and she later gave police three receipts for repossessed vehicles totaling $535, the amount Fegely was charged with taking.

Officer Carrick was at the business when Fegely allegedly told the manager as well as Upstate’s owner that he had taken the laptop to an Apple store to get it fixed, finally returned the computer. The manager then found Fegely apparently had used the company credit card for his cell phone bill.

Fegely told police he had asked another employee to tell the manager that Fegely wanted to use the credit card to pay his bill and then deduct the amount from his paycheck.

The employee later told police Fegely had never asked him to convey the credit card request to the manager.