Fraud Investigator: Burglary

We were 14, maybe 13, and had just finished basketball practice at our Catholic school. There were at least five of us culprits, I guess you’d say. We let ourselves into the nuns’ kitchen while they were off praying and grabbed whatever we could carry. Carl snatched the bologna, Mike the ice cream, and I had a whole chicken. We had other stuff, too, and we boldly carried it all out the front door, down the street to my house.

My mother wanted to know how we had so much food so we told her we won a raffle. She thought we were good kids, from good families, so we must be telling the truth. She congratulated us and then made a big feast with all of the loot to celebrate our luck.

I don’t feel bad about stealing from God, but I do feel remorse for doing something wrong and getting away with it. I don’t ever want to see my own kids do anything like that. I worked as a fraud investigator for over 10 years. I think, Who would have trusted a thief with personal records?

When you’re 14, you’re not thinking of the consequences. We just wanted to have fun and get away with it. And we did.

Look at where we’re at now. Carl is a cop, Mike’s an engineer, Joey manages a textile company, and Mark runs his own business. If we would have been caught, who knows?