Mugshot of Jenelle Raymo. Photo Credit: THE VIRGIN ISLANDS POLICE DEPARTMENT
ST. THOMAS — A home depot employee is facing multiple counts of embezzlement after allegedly misusing her ability to generate quotes to allow people to leave the store with unpaid merchandise.
According to court documents, on Monday afternoon detectives of the VIPD Economic Crime Unit were called in to the Home Depot on Donoe Road to investigate a report of embezzlement. They met with a senior staffer who told them that Home Depot’s Central Investigation team had begun looking into the activities of Jenelle Raymo, a supervisor at the establishment.
Raymo had reportedly been facilitating the theft of store merchandise by creating a quote for customers, canceling the quote while the transaction was being conducted, and then providing each customer with a copy of the canceled quotation, while allowing them to leave Home Depot with the items they had not yet paid for.
When questioned, Raymo allegedly admitted to facilitating this process with two men. She reportedly told the store’s asset protection manager that she was approached last December by one individual and agreed to perform her role in the scheme on several occasions, getting paid $200 each time she did so.
While Raymo said she did not recall the number of times she participated in the scam, the store provided police with surveillance footage showing that she did so on at least 11 different occasions. Although she reportedly agreed to repay Home Depot the over $3,600 loss that had been confirmed by the investigation, she was nevertheless arrested and charged with eleven counts of embezzlement by fiduciary, and one count of grand larceny.
Unable to post bail at the time of her arrest, Raymo was remanded to the Bureau of Corrections to await her first court appearance.
In court on Tuesday, Magistrate Simone VanHolten-Turnbull found probable cause to uphold the charges against Raymo. While full details of her bail conditions have not been made publicly available as of press time, court documents indicate that a sum of $500 was paid to secure Raymo’s release ahead of trial. She has also been asked to surrender her passport card and driver’s license to the court.
Her next court appearance has been scheduled for March 8.
