Bernard Bushee, 39, of East Road in Atkinson, the manager of the Hess gas station in front of the Apple Tree Mall on Route 102, was arrested for Theft and Conspiracy to Commit Theft after turning himself in on a warrant Wednesday, May 14.
An alleged accomplice, Michael Walsh, 22, of Rimmon Street in Manchester, was also arrested and charged with Conspiracy To Commit Theft. He turned himself in as well.
“Bushee and another employee were basically scamming the company,” Londonderry Detective Christopher Olson said. “They were basically ringing in people’s merchandise but at the same time they were taking the merchandise. They were inflating sales numbers in order to account for missing products, so they were falsifying receipts, deposit slips and things of that nature. When someone would come in to purchase an item, they would ring it on a separate calculator and print off a zero receipt. Once that caught up to them, Bushee began scratching all the scratch tickets to try and account for the missing money.”
Olson said money was missing from the safe as well. In all, about $40,000 in merchandise, money and scratch tickets was taken over a couple of months.
“We got the initial report of the thefts in February of this year,” Olson said.
Bushee’s bail was set at $8,000 personal recognizance. He has a court date at Derry District Court on June 9. Walsh had bail set at $1,000 cash and his court date is also 8 June 9 at Derry District Court.