Crime & Safety

Owner, Employee of UPS Store on Old Alabama Charged with Stealing Gift Cards for Tornado Victims

Cards were allegedly used at Target on North Point Parkway.

The owner of a shipping store and one of his employees have been charged with thefts of thousands of dollars in gift cards bound for tornado victims in Tuscaloosa, AL.

A North Fulton woman had been gathering donated gift cards to send to her mother in Tuscaloosa, which would then be handed out to those in need. But the gift cards never arrived, reported George Gordon, executive officer for the Alpharetta Department of Public Safety.

The local woman had gone to the UPS franchise store on Old Alabama Road in Johns Creek on May 12 to ship the gift cards and some handmade cards children had made to send to the tornado victims.

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As the store was busy an employee told the woman they would box up her shipment for her.

"That night, we know those cards were used in theΒ ," Gordon said.

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When the box arrived, all it contained were the children's cards, her mother told her on May 14.

The woman took the serial numbers of the gift cards and went to the Roswell Target store, where the Loss Prevention department helped her locate where the gift cards had been used. The Alpharetta Target store on North Point Parkway was revealed as one location.

"Quite frankly this is a horrendous story for us," Gordon said.

The victim, out of the kindness of her heart, was gathering donations and gift cards to give to those in need in Tuscaloosa.

"These people were in absolute need. They were devastated. For someone to take money that was intended for those people, that's incomprehensible," Gordon said.

She took this evidence to the Alpharetta Department of Public Safety, and detectives began their own investigation. They quickly found video of the UPS store owner and an employee buying items at the Target store, with the time stamp matching when some of the stolen cards had been used. A second video clearly shows the two suspects walking out of the store just a moment or two after the purchases.

Based upon the investigation, the owner of the Johns Creek UPS store and a female accomplice were taken into custody today for the theft of the gift cards. Arrested for felony theft were Edward Michael Copenhaver and UPS store employee Margaret Kate Carlisle. Both suspects have been charged with numerous counts of felony theft by taking.Β 

The investigation to date has identified the theft involved more than 50 gift cards with a value in excess of several thousands dollars.


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