Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Pittsburgh
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 06-21-2012, 12:21 PM
 
Location: ɥbɹnqsʇʇıd
4,599 posts, read 6,725,533 times
Reputation: 3521

Advertisements

Reason #1254 not to buy your car from a huge dealer like Baierl. You know they're getting fat paid while you get screwed.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-21-2012, 12:36 PM
 
Location: Swisshelm Park
540 posts, read 869,187 times
Reputation: 309
A friend of mine used to work as an installer for a company that made inventory and accounting software for auto dealerships. He told me when he would install a new version a common question from the sales managers was, "How do I rig it to steal the trade-in?" So yeah, she's a scumbag for stealing, but she likely wasn't stealing from angels.

Also, as a Catholic, I can only imagine the multi-layered levels of guilt one must feel for buying an audience with the Pope with stolen money.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-21-2012, 08:09 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,682,661 times
Reputation: 5165
This was news a while ago, maybe the sentencing was fairly recent but I think even that was a couple weeks ago. I do remember it coming up again, but it already seems like weeks ago.

Somewhere in the middle before she was caught, Bill Baierl (owner) died, think that was maybe 2 years ago now, maybe even 3? Not sure. Either way, perhaps it was after that she was discovered. Bill Baierl I think was known as somewhat of a regular approachable guy and may have been very trusting with this employee. At first I was thinking the ownership change (not really a change, but passed down in the family) created the opportunity, but reading again that it was 7 years, it must be that he was lax and the ownership change may have resulted in her getting caught.

I actually bought my car there, but it was 12 years ago so before this was happening.

It's just amazing the stupid stuff people do with money when they embezzle. Some years ago our company had a small embezzlement issue. Same kind of thing, why he did this and why he bought what he did seems really odd. This person didn't have any access to accounts BTW; he did have access to incoming receipts though (checks) and opened a new account under false pretense, and took advantage of a then loophole in the tracking of the sales.

Like us back then, I'm sure they learned the hard way about having better processes in place. Unlike us, it will be much harder to recoup 10 million vs about 8 grand.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-22-2012, 05:29 AM
 
62 posts, read 109,635 times
Reputation: 55
Quote:
Originally Posted by greg42 View Post
Somewhere in the middle before she was caught, Bill Baierl (owner) died, think that was maybe 2 years ago now, maybe even 3? Not sure.

Bill Baierl died over 5 years ago so there was a pretty lengthy period where she was still getting away with this after Lee Baierl took over.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-22-2012, 05:40 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,682,661 times
Reputation: 5165
Quote:
Originally Posted by Burghson86 View Post
Bill Baierl died over 5 years ago so there was a pretty lengthy period where she was still getting away with this after Lee Baierl took over.
5 years ago? Holy crap. I find it impossible to gauge this time anymore. Things that happened a few months ago seem like a few weeks, and extend it out to 5 years and this is what I get....

I should have looked it up before posting that. I would thus go back to the transition gave her some extra cover, although to be sure it shouldn't have given cover for 3-4 years. (It's 5 years now, but she was caught some time ago, don't know what the time span was between caught and the recent news.) Like I said, sometimes you learn the hard way....
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-22-2012, 06:57 AM
 
62 posts, read 109,635 times
Reputation: 55
Quote:
Originally Posted by greg42 View Post
5 years ago? Holy crap. I find it impossible to gauge this time anymore. Things that happened a few months ago seem like a few weeks, and extend it out to 5 years and this is what I get....

I should have looked it up before posting that. I would thus go back to the transition gave her some extra cover, although to be sure it shouldn't have given cover for 3-4 years. (It's 5 years now, but she was caught some time ago, don't know what the time span was between caught and the recent news.) Like I said, sometimes you learn the hard way....

Yeah, the only reason I remember is because I was working at Baierl at the time when he died. And honestly, my understanding was that Lee had pretty much been running the company for some time even before Bill passed and from what I remember there weren't any significant changes made once Lee Baierl officially took over. So although it is a bit shocking that she was able to get away with this for so long, the change in ownership probably wasn't much of a factor seeing as how she probably dealt with Lee more to begin with and obviously gained his trust.

Last edited by Burghson86; 06-22-2012 at 07:59 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-22-2012, 08:03 AM
 
43,011 posts, read 108,148,932 times
Reputation: 30725
I guess this is how authorities anticipate the 10%/1 million will be recovered.

Family Members of Former Baierl Controller Forfeit Homes, Cars - Sewickley, PA Patch

Various family members have agreed to forfeit property given to them by Smith.

I can't help but wonder how the family didn't have a clue. How else could mommy buy them entire houses?

Her husband isn't mentioned. I guess because he doesn't need to agree to forfeit since his property will be seized via joint ownership in marriage.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-22-2012, 08:21 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
1,776 posts, read 2,700,519 times
Reputation: 1741
If I were paying spacey 11gs to eat with him, I'd make him be in character as HAL the whole time.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-22-2012, 08:32 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,682,661 times
Reputation: 5165
I suppose it's crazy to speculate about the perpetrator here, but you do have to wonder how that goes on for so long, and to such a degree. I mean, take money, large sums of money, and buy stuff for yourself and your family, as if you had won the lottery or something? There wasn't any reporting (that I remember, and my memory is apparently suspect so I could be wading in over my head again ) that she had any ill feelings toward the Baierls or manager of the dealership or whatever, and I don't think she got the job just to steal money so it had to have become a compulsion of some kind I think. I don't think people lose track of the idea that this is wrong, but you may lose the ability to stop unless someone actually catches you.

Just thinking "out loud" as it were. Who knows how this sort of thing really works....
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-22-2012, 09:02 AM
 
43,011 posts, read 108,148,932 times
Reputation: 30725
The article says she did it to feel loved by her family.

Quote:
Smith's reason for her crime spree was she felt like a "horrible daughter, wife, mother and friend" and the gifts were a way to "earn their love" because she wanted to see "what happiness looks like."
The profile of an embezzeler is a middle aged women.

They often start off stealing small amounts, then increase after they don't get caught.

If they start to feel an employer is suspicious, they'll move on to another company and adjust their tactics from lessons learned.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2022 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Pittsburgh
Similar Threads
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top