Reading Eagle: Temp worker at Muhlenberg Township UPS stole box with $2,000 in gift cards, police say
By Steven Henshaw shenshaw@readingeagle.com @StevenHenshawRE on Twitter
January 9, 2020
A temporary UPS worker has been charged with stealing a package containing gift cards totaling $2,000, and spending most of the cards.
Enyer L. Adames, 18, of the 1100 block of Robeson Street, was a seasonal employee at the Muhlenberg Township UPS facility when the cards were stolen, according to police.
Adames was committed to Berks County Prison in lieu of $10,000 bail after arraignment before Senior District Judge Thomas H. Xavios in Reading Central Court on theft, receiving stolen property and 32 counts of access device fraud.
The case was investigated by Caernarvon Township Cpl. Chad Eberly, who also carries a designation as a Berks County detective.
He gave this account:
Singer Equipment Co., 150 S. Twin Valley Road, which distributes equipment and supplies to the food-service industry, planned to send a lighter package to one of its Maryland factories.
The package contained 40 gift cards, each in the amount of $50, that were intended to be gifts to employees.
On Dec. 10, a UPS driver picked up the package at the front desk of Singer’s headquarters in Caernarvon Township. Ten days later, the company learned the package was never received.
The tracking information showed UPS had no record of having taken possession of the package.
Company officials obtained a detailed transaction history for each of the cards and discovered that 32 of them had been passed from Dec. 11 through Dec. 19 at different retail locations in Berks, as well as to make online purchases.
Singer reported the theft to Caernarvon police and the investigation led to Adames, who was seen on security camera video with a woman at the retail locations passing the cards.
Detectives provided images of the man to UPS security personnel who confirmed his identity through his driver’s license. The man had worked in December as a temporary laborer at the UPS facility on Reading Crest Avenue, officials confirmed.
Eberly interviewed Adames on Wednesday and the suspect admitted to taking the cards from the UPS facility. He said he passed the cards with his girlfriend at various locations and spent some of them to make online purchases.
The sum of the purchases was $1,046. Several other transaction attempts were made, but were denied.
The girlfriend has not been identified by police.
