Sheriff's detectives: Winn Dixie employees illegally reduced retail prices for each other
Four employees of a Winn Dixie store in Deltona were accused of stealing from the business by overriding retail prices and selling merchandise to each other and other workers at a lower cost, Volusia County Sheriff's Office investigators said.
The store incurred a total loss of $631.57, an arrest report shows. Four young women, all residents of Deltona, were charged with one count of obtaining property by fraud. They were also charged each time for the number of incidents when they took goods from the store, sheriff's detectives noted in their report.
Yesenia Jubinalia Bartolon, 23, was additionally charged with 16 counts of petty theft that cost the grocery store $109.07, Natalia Abigail Bartolon, 23, was charged with 29 counts of petty theft totaling $147.50, Leah Bertubin Ramos, 19, was charged with 12 counts of retail theft in the amount of $68.32, and a 17-year-old girl was charged with 44 counts of petty theft, a loss of $306.68 to the store.
Court records show Yesenia Bartolon is out of the Volusia County Branch Jail after posting $13,500 bail. Natalia Bartolon is free on $19,500 bail and Ramos posted $11,000 bail. The 17-year-old's information was not publicly available because she is a juvenile.
Sheriff's spokesman Andrew Gant said in an email that she was transported to the Family Resource Center, and the Volusia County Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Daytona Beach was to determine whether she would be held in secure custody or released to a guardian.
23-county retail thefts FDLE: Retail thieves stole from stores in 23 Florida counties, including Volusia
The Winn Dixie loss amount may not sound like a lot but the National Retail Federation said in a report that retail crime has escalated nationally costing businesses $112.1 billion in losses in 2022. This 2022 figure was an increase of 1.6% from the $93.3 billion loss in 2021.
The FBI said retail thefts, especially organized retail crimes, cost the U.S. about $30 billion each year. Although the FBI's report lumped retail theft with other crimes like credit card fraud, gift card fraud, and price tag switching, the federal agency said retail thefts are a significant part.
According to an arrest report, sheriff's detectives went to the Winn Dixie at 2880 Howland Boulevard where a store manager reported the thefts.
The manager said that an audit of the stolen merchandise showed a loss because the amount of money received did not match the number of items sold, the report states.
The audit showed that the four employees were overriding the retail prices of the goods without authorization and selling them to other co-workers at a lower price, sheriff's investigators said.
When questioned, the Bartolons told deputies they were not trying to steal from Winn Dixie and that they only wanted to make the items more affordable, the report shows.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida Winn Dixie employees changed retail prices for each other
