Anna Susan Kosak, bookkeeper for Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, NC, was arrested for embezzling $348,975 from the independent bookstore.

As the only person who handled the business’s books, Kosak was able to write and cash checks she’d written to herself without anyone checking her work.

General manager Sarah Goddin said the missing funds were undetected because Kosak had kept the check amounts small, and had been stealing for a long period of time. When asked why Kosak would steal, Goddin mentioned that the bookkeeper had undergone gastric bypass surgery the previous year, which typically runs between $25,000 and $35,000.

Despite the suffering economy, Goddin insists the bookstore’s sales remained flat for the year. But thanks to the embezzlement charge, the owners will be more financially watchful than ever.

It may seem like a no-brainer to most, but Block Communications, Inc., is learning that the title “theft expert” might have more than one meaning. Former employee Barry Webne was hired at the company in July 2001, as a theft-prevention specialist.

The first red flag: Webne acquired the majority of his experience by embezzling from a company a decade before his hiring at Block. In his defense, former “professional” thieves are often hired later on down the road because of their expertise in the security field. Frank Abagnale, a security consultant who helped develop most modern paper check security features, learned the ropes by duping banks for years.

Block must have trusted in Weber’s experience. Over his five years with the company, Webne gained more control over the company’s financial security. Eventually, Webne began writing himself checks on company stock that were signed with a signature stamp of a fellow employee.

After cashing the checks, he’d destroy the canceled checks returned to the company and make false entries in the company’s books to conceal the embezzlement.

On top of the $1,138,334 Webne outright stole from Block, he also managed to give himself several pay raises that weren’t authorized by company executives.

He was caught after being transferred to Corporate Protection Services, a subsidiary of Block Communications.

In addition to the stolen funds he must pay back, Webne faces up to 63 months in federal prison.

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.