Hospitality Industry Theft Risks: Louisiana Hotel Employee Arrested For Stealing Over $34,000 From “Night Deposits”; Altered “Drop Log” And Inflated “Reward Point System”

“…As a controller at the hotel, (the employee) had been responsible for removing and verifying nightly deposits cashiers made into the safe. His duties included checking these funds against a corresponding drop log and hotel records…A total of 97 deposits were found to be missing $34,280.53, according to an arrest warrant…to further conceal the scheme, (he) also is accused of falsely inflating the hotel’s reward point system, a program that allows guests to redeem points for services…”

An employee at the Renaissance hotel in Baton Rouge is accused of stealing more than $34,000 from hotel safe deposits and altering financial records to cover his tracks, according to court records. East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputies issued an arrest warrant for Matthew D. Dziadosz, 38, 8741 Pecan Tree Drive, on one count of felony theft. Detectives began an inquiry in June after an internal audit turned up discrepancies in the hotel’s deposits and accounting records.

“It was noted that varying amounts of cash were systematically removed from the daily dropped envelopes,” Detective Kevin Chenier wrote in the warrant.

Hotel records showed more than three dozen instances in which drop log entries had been altered and another 12 entries omitted entirely.

“This would have given the impression the employee had not dropped an envelope at all,” Chenier wrote.

In some instances, Dziadosz re-wrote an entire drop log, the warrant says. He had been expected to document erroneous or missing deposits, the warrant says, but made no reports “consistent with the volume of falsely reported errors or missing drops.”

For more:  http://theadvocate.com/news/7199061-123/hotel-employee-accused-of-pocketing