After one whiff, this accountant should have known his port-a-potty ploy smelled bad from the beginning.

New York prosecutors recently nabbed John Hoeffner, an account at Tishman Construction, for embezzling more than $2.8 million from the company’s coffers. Usually, when fraud strikes a company from within its ranks, employees alter the books to cover their tracks and they’re discovered months down the road.

That part was true for this case — when prosecutors noticed hundreds of thousands of dollars were being spent on Hoeffner’s girlfriend, who resided in Cali, Colombia, it was a red flag.

Here’s where things get interesting: When they scoured the company’s records, prosecutors found Hoeffner had altered checks made out to the Mr. John company — a legitimate vendor at Tishman Construction. Hoeffner created fake invoices from the company, made checks written to “Mr. John,” and had his supervisor sign them.

Once he’d gotten the needed signature, Hoeffner wrote in his last name after “Mr. John” and cashed the checks for his personal use.

Tags: Embezzlement, Mr. John, Port-a-potty, Theft