21-year-old Deric Joseph Deckard of San Jose was charged with grand theft of an employer under PC 484-487(b) (3). During Deckard’s employment at Champs Sports at the Great Mall in Milpitas, it was thought that he had taken store merchandise and other personal property exceeding $950.00, per the code. His next court appearance has been scheduled for February 25 in Dept 30 at 1:30 PM in the Hall of Justice in San Jose.
The Milpitas Police Department responded to a call from a loss prevention agent for Champs Sports, located at 447 Great Mall Parkway, because it was believed that Deckard, from July to October of 2013 had embezzled more than $10,000 in goods and services from the store.
During a loss prevention audit it was found that a pair of shoes was missing from the inventory, and had been reportedly rung up by Deckard the day before. An investigation into the incident began as investigators reviewed video surveillance of the transaction. The video showed that Deckard rang up a spray can instead of the shoes in question in order to give the customer a discount for their purchase. It was believed that Deckard was fraudulently ringing up items and randomly giving discounts to unknown customers.
It is estimated that he had embezzled a total of $3596.03 in shoes. Deckard claimed that different people would come up to him and ask him repeatedly for discounts and free shoes. He claimed he did not know why but he felt through “peer pressure” that he should give them a discount. During his employment it estimated that he had fraudulently sold from 15 – 20 pairs of shoes worth approximately $2000.00.
Officers arrested Deckard and took him to the Milpitas PD substation for further investigation in to the incident. He was then booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for PC 503, embezzlement.
