Elmhurst Domino's employee charged with pocketing $867.50 from customer transactions

ELMHURST – A Domino's Pizza employee allegedly stole $867.50 over two weeks in September after processing 44 food orders, falsely reporting customers canceled them and pocketing the cash for himself.

Kenneth Heraty, 20, of the 0S500 block of Kendall Avenue, Elmhurst, was arrested at 1:16 p.m. Sept. 28 and charged with felony theft after showing up to work at the Elmhurst restaurant, Elmhurst Deputy Police Chief Mike McLean said.

McLean said the average employee of the Elmhurst location has to cancel about $40 to $60 within a two-week period, and a manager had noticed the discrepancy through conducting a routine audit, realizing it was "a very large amount" of money.

The manager called customers to find out if they had received their orders, and the customers confirmed they had, informing the manager they had paid in cash, McLean said.

The manager reportedly suspected Heraty was keeping the cash and reported it to the Elmhurst Police Department, he said.

Upon questioning by Elmhurst police officers, Heraty allegedly admitted he had canceled orders and taken money over the course of the past two to three months, McLean said.

According to Illinois state statute, offenders are charged with felony theft if they steal more than $500 worth of property.

The sole victim of the theft was Domino's PIzza, McLean said.

"Employee theft unfortunately occurs at businesses occasionally," he said.

An employee altering transactions to steal money is more common than other types of employee theft, such as creating falsified documents, McLean said.

He said the case shows the importance of businesses regularly auditing financial transactions since they might not otherwise be aware of employee theft.

"Fortunately, they do, they have a policy and they caught it," McLean said.

He did not know whether Heraty had been fired.

Heraty is scheduled to appear in DuPage County court at 9:05 a.m. Oct. 5 in courtroom 4000.