Theft at Walgreens store nets manager prison

Nov 08, 2008 (Omaha World-Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- WAG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Financial pressure caused Robert Frank to steal nearly $400,000 at the Walgreens store he managed, his attorney told a judge Friday.

A prosecutor had another term for it.

Greed.

Deputy Douglas County Attorney Bill Ouren said the kind of family financial pressures Frank cited don't account for why the 59-year-old Papillion man was stealing anywhere from $6,000 to $32,000 at a time by loading the amounts on prepaid credit cards.

And Douglas County District Judge Thomas Otepka said family needs wouldn't explain why Frank spent $1,800 of the stolen money on new tires and rims or thousands more on flat-screen televisions, a pool table and a poker table. Otepka said he had little choice but to send Frank, who had no previous record, to prison.

"While I can't ignore your (law-abiding) years, I also can't ignore the magnitude of the crime -- the very calculated nature of the scheme."

The sentence of three to five years Otepka gave Frank was the same term he gave Sister Barbara Markey -- the Notre Dame nun who stole at least $250,000 from the Omaha archdiocese.

Frank stole more than $375,000, but he also expressed more contrition than Markey, who now wants to withdraw her guilty plea.

Frank choked up several times as he addressed the judge.

"I am very embarrassed by my behavior," he said. "My job in life was to take care of my family. I want to apologize to my family. I also want to apologize to those who trusted me."

Frank's attorney, James Blinn of Papillion, urged the judge not to ignore the more than 58 good years of Frank's life. After completing a 22-year career in the military, which included a stint in the first Persian Gulf War, Frank began another long career at Walgreens in 1990.

He rose to manager of the store at 30th and Dodge Streets -- earning the trust of his superiors.

Over the past few years, family problems mounted, Blinn said. The nursing home that cared for his mother and sister closed -- and Frank took them into his home.

His stress was compounded when his teenage daughter died in a car crash.

Frank then complicated matters by gambling, Blinn said.

"You ask yourself, 'How does that happen after all those good years?'" Blinn said. "How does he end up here?

"Nowhere . . . does he blame anyone but himself. He spent some of it on his family needs. Some on gambling. Some on himself."

Ouren said there is little doubt about the latter. Frank outfitted his Papillion home with new furnishings, Ouren said. Authorities repossessed a new car he purchased with the stolen money. When the theft was brought to light, Ouren said, workers from a home-improvement store were installing a new washer and dryer in his home. Police contacted the home-improvement store -- and the installers unhooked the appliances and loaded them back on the truck.

While any theft is inexcusable, Ouren said, some thieves are fueled by desperation.

"Here, we're talking about nearly $400,000," he said. "At that point, the motive becomes pure and simple greed."

And, Ouren said, Frank's thefts were anything but impulsive.

In the spring of 2007, Frank began loading money onto prepaid credit cards issued by Green Dot Inc.

Often he would enter his employees' information -- and list himself as a co-signer on the credit cards.

At first, the amount he put on a card was $6,000. Then $8,000. Then $10,000. By the end of the six-month scheme, Frank was loading $32,000 on each card.

Green Dot became suspicious about that amount -- and alerted Walgreens security.

Frank made sure there was no record of the transaction by loading the cards while the store's registers were off and he was the only employee in the store.

He further concealed his crime by not placing a videotape in the surveillance cameras so he couldn't be seen on tape loading the credit cards.

"This wasn't a guy who was taking cash out of the register," Ouren said. "There were multiple layers of deceit. Clearly this was a horrible violation of (Walgreens) trust."

--Contact the writer: 444-1275, todd.cooper@owh.com

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