An undercover operation in Tennessee finds a number of GameStop employees in some very hot water. The employees were charged with theft of property after buying back used games they knew to be stolen.
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Authorities said today that eight current and former employees of the world's largest video game retailer have pleaded guilty to theft of property charges for buying video games purported to be stolen.
GameStop, which has 18 locations in the Memphis area, sells new and used video games and buys used games from the public for resale, a practice the company now is temporarily suspending.
“GameStop takes this situation quite seriously,” said Rory Rhoads, GameStop’s Regional Vice President of Stores. “We are pleased to partner with the ALERT Unit and have taken very deliberate steps to improve our operations. Specifically, we have suspended our cash-for-trade transactions in Shelby County and DeSoto County, Mississippi until February 2009.”
Rhoads said GameStop has conducted extensive training of employees, reminding them of the policy against receipt of stolen merchandise and helping them identify such items.
The undercover operation documented illegal sales between April and June at GameStop stores at 1680 Union Avenue, 6223 Winchester Road, 7539 Winchester Road, 4465 Poplar Avenue at Oak Court Mall, 5043 Park Avenue, 2760 N. Germantown Parkway, 1262 Southland Mall, and 2878 Wolf Creek Parkway.
Each of the eight defendants charged pleaded guilty to theft of property under $500 and was ordered to serve one year on diversion, a form of probation that can end with their record being cleared.
The employees that were caught are between the ages of 19 and 41.GameStop, which has 18 locations in the Memphis area, sells new and used video games and buys used games from the public for resale, a practice the company now is temporarily suspending.
“GameStop takes this situation quite seriously,” said Rory Rhoads, GameStop’s Regional Vice President of Stores. “We are pleased to partner with the ALERT Unit and have taken very deliberate steps to improve our operations. Specifically, we have suspended our cash-for-trade transactions in Shelby County and DeSoto County, Mississippi until February 2009.”
Rhoads said GameStop has conducted extensive training of employees, reminding them of the policy against receipt of stolen merchandise and helping them identify such items.
The undercover operation documented illegal sales between April and June at GameStop stores at 1680 Union Avenue, 6223 Winchester Road, 7539 Winchester Road, 4465 Poplar Avenue at Oak Court Mall, 5043 Park Avenue, 2760 N. Germantown Parkway, 1262 Southland Mall, and 2878 Wolf Creek Parkway.
Each of the eight defendants charged pleaded guilty to theft of property under $500 and was ordered to serve one year on diversion, a form of probation that can end with their record being cleared.
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