A Fred Meyer loss prevention manager, who stole nearly $230,000 from self-checkout machines at one of the chain’s Northeast Portland stores, was sentenced last week to four years in prison.
Emily Tallman, 37, had no criminal history, and state sentencing guidelines would have recommended probation if she had only stolen once. But she ended up getting years in prison because of the amount she stole, the position of trust she held and video surveillance showing she went back to the machines again and again in the first half of 2017 -- amounting to 21 thefts in all.
"This was not an isolated event,” Deputy District Attorney Sean Hughey said in a news release. “It was an absolute betrayal of trust.”
Video taken from a camera positioned above the checkout machines shows Tallman wearing a baseball cap. She uses a key to open a door to the machine, then can be seen using a clipboard to partially conceal cash that she removes and slips into the bottom of a cart next to her, investigators say. The DA’s office released the video Thursday.
Tallman told jailers after her arrest that she’d been a full-time Fred Meyer employee for a decade.
She used her badge outside of normal operating hours to enter the Gateway store at Northeast 102nd Avenue and Halsey Street, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office.
An investigation began in 2017 after the chain noticed large losses from the self checkout machines, and Tallman claimed she didn’t know why the machines were missing money. Regional loss prevention investigators delved into the case, and ultimately identified Tallman as the thief.
“Emily Tallman used her position as a store employee to steal all of this money, and she was able to cover her tracks for months,” Hughey said.
A Multnomah County Circuit Court jury in March found her guilty of 21 counts of first-degree theft and aggravated first-degree theft.
She must repay all the money she stole: $229,714, according to the district attorney’s office.
Brent Weisberg, a spokesman for the office, said it’s not exactly known why Tallman stole when she was employed full-time. He said investigators think she might have used some of the money for gambling and some for drugs.
At the time of her arrest, she had methamphetamine on her, authorities say. She was charged with meth possession, but that charge was later dropped.
Tallman’s defense attorney, Drake Durham, couldn’t immediately be reached Thursday for comment.
-- Aimee Green
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