Suspect accused of using self-checkout to generate fraudulent coupons
An Upper Darby man faces hundreds of counts of theft and related crimes after police say he stole gift cards over a period of several months from the Acme supermarket where he worked.
Jacob Gottlieb, 26, was charged with 96 counts of theft, 122 counts of theft by deception, 96 counts of receiving stolen property and one charge of improper use of an access card after asset protection staff at Acme Markets determined he was stealing from the Bryn Mawr store.
According to the criminal complaint report by Haverford police officer Scott Nyhart, officers were called Feb. 4 to the store in the 600 block of Lancaster Avenue just after 6 p.m. and met by an Acme Markets asset protection manager, who said that Gottlieb had been committing the fraud and theft over a period of five months.
The asset protection manager told police that Gottlieb would ring up merchandise and gift cards at the self-checkout while at work then use his override authorization card and take the transaction to zero. Gottlieb would do this for himself and random customers, the manager told police.
From Nov. 4 to Jan. 26, he reportedly did it 122 times for a total of $1,309 in coupons.
Acme officials also checked the usage on Gottlieb’s loyalty card.
Police say that while checking out random customers Gottlieb would enter his own phone number in the register, which would add reward dollars to Gottlieb’s account, not the customer’s.
This began Sept. 9 and continued until Jan. 30, for a total of $177.
Gottlieb was arrested by Haverford police, arraigned and released on $35,000 unsecured bail.
He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Feb. 21.
