Trial ordered in theft case

SANDPOINT — An Oldtown man was ordered Wednesday to stand trial for allegedly embezzling as much as $439,000 from his former employer over a seven-year period.

Jasen W. Johnson is scheduled to be arraigned on a charge of grand theft on May 17 in 1st District Court.

Judge Justin Julian found there was sufficient evidence to justify trying Johnson following the continuation of a preliminary hearing that began last week in magistrate court.

Johnson, 48, is accused of exploiting his knowledge of Family Foods’ computer and cash register systems to make hundreds of fictitious merchandise returns between 2002 and 2009 in order to pocket cash. He allegedly falsified transactions’ time signatures to conceal the bogus returns.

Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank called witnesses on Wednesday to demonstrate Johnson, a longtime and trusted store manager, had the means and opportunity to commit the thefts, which only occurred on the days he worked.

Manager Chet Scott noticed mysterious $207.99 beer returns associated with Johnson’s register access code and thought it was a computer glitch, which prompted him to contact a systems analyst at URM Stores, the retailers’ cooperative that serves Food Fresh and other independent supermarkets in the region.

“He didn’t believe it to be a glitch,” Scott testified. “It was a security breach.”

Store owner Larry Gerow said he and officials from URM divided up the task of sorting through seven years of store records, partly to break up the workload but also to see if everybody would reach the same conclusion.

The conclusion was unanimous and the number of $207.99 returns proved to be staggering — as many as 69 within a 90-day period, Scott cited as an example. Gerow testified that Johnson’s work schedule also matched the days the falsified returns took place.

Gerow also put together profit-and-loss statements to demonstrate the thefts’ impact on his store’s bottom line.

“We did better in the recession than we did in 2008 because of the fraudulent refunds,” Gerow said.

Under cross-examination by defense counsel Michael Palmer, Gerow and Scott testified that Johnson denied committing the thefts. Scott also conceded that cards employees use to log into a cash register can become lost or stolen.

Neither Greenbank nor Palmer offered any argument after testimony in the state’s largely circumstantial case. Despite the lack of eyewitness accounts and incriminating statements by Johnson, Julian found the state carried its burden of showing a trial is warranted.

“We do have a significant body of circumstantial evidence that Mr. Johnson had the ability to make these daily embezzlements,” Julian said, adding that the timing of the thefts and Johnson’s work schedule was “particularly compelling.”

Johnson invoked his right to remain silent on Wednesday, although court records indicate he believes somebody else is behind the thefts, hundreds of which he maintains occurred on days he was not in the store.

A polygraph examination arranged by the defense concluded that Johnson physiological reactions were consistent with those of a truthful person. During the exam, Johnson told the examiner that his unique access code could have misappropriated by another employee.

“Ultimately, he said, any employee could have access to his unique approval code,” polygrapher Douglas Orr said in his report.