Neighbors Who See Stabbing Kick Ass
Weird Teacher Watch: David Gregoire Caught Stealing More Than $200K From His Employer
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 9:00 am
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For nearly twenty years, David Gregoire was a well-regarded science teacher at Little Falls Middle School in Minnesota.
Unfortunately, Gregoire couldn't always make ends meet on his modest teacher's salary. So whenever he wasn't too busy correcting papers or serving as a Boy Scout troop leader, the 44-year-old outdoorsman was working a part-time job at Reed's Family Outdoor Outfitters.
Gregoire first started working for Reed's in 1995. His part-time gig was as much a labor of love as it was a way to earn some extra income. Working amidst fishing rods, rifle scopes, and camping gear, Gregoire was in his element -- as much a "trusted friend" of the store's owner as an employee.
So it came as a huge surprise to the store's owner when, in 2008, he discovered that Gregoire was stealing merchandise -- to the tune of over $294,731.25.
Gregoire must have been aware that the store's owner was a shoddy bookkeeper and that taking a rifle here or a tent there probably wouldn't appear on the books. For three years, he swiped everything from guns to fishing rods and promptly sold them on eBay. He told himself the goods were for services rendered -- payment for all his hard work and time.
But once Gregoire's boss realized what was up, he certainly didn't feel the same way. He reported his friend to the feds, who ransacked Gregorie's house and confiscated everything from stolen merchandise to his father's antique fishing rods.
Gregorie resigned from his teaching job just before the 2008-09 school year.
Despite his efforts to claim that he had an agreement with the store's owner to take merchandise as payment for his work, in January he was convicted on five counts of mail fraud and a single count of interstate transportation of stolen property -- charges that carried a maximum of 100 years in prison.
Last week, Gregorie appeared at his sentencing alongside his wife of 11 years, who begged the judge not to take Gregorie away from their 5-year-old son, who "believes his father can walk on water."
But the judge wasn't swayed, noting only that she wasn't the one taking Gregoire away from his son, but that "you took yourself away by committing these crimes."
Gregoire was ordered to serve two years in federal prison and to pay back the $294,731.25 he stole.
Tags: Minnesota, Weird Teacher Watch
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