GHOST EMPLOYEE
For a couple of offenders, the phrase “you can run, but you can’t hide” applies in reverse to their extraordinary misdeeds.
A man in New York, USA proved that he can really hide when he harassed a former co-worker he hated by throwing trash at her front yard almost every night.
Cheryl Patton of Hamburg town in the same state was clueless of the identity of the serial trash-tosser for a long time. The spy camera she mounted on a tree, use of high-powered binoculars and even a stakeout one cold night failed to get a clear sight of the plate number of the minivan the litterbug drove whenever he threw used McDonald’s cups containing cigarette butts or used napkins.
Patton seemed helpless as the trash, which she collected, filled 10 garbage bags after one year. The couple asked for help from neighbors who finally caught the plate number of the minivan. The littering was then reported to the local police who conducted a stakeout.
When the litterbug was finally caught and identified, Patton was not only surprised that he was her co-worker,
Larry Pope, who always argued with her over numerous union-related issues. More surprising was that Pope was too old to be doing what he did at 76.
Unfortunately for the victims, Pope was only ticketed by Hamburg police for littering, which is just a traffic violation.
If Pope managed to stay incognito for a year, an Italian male nurse was worse for hiding his offense for a longer time.
The 67-year-old nurse at Pugliese Ciaccio hospital in the Calabrian city of Catanzaro, along with six managers, are under investigation by police for alleged fraud, extortion and abuse of office.
Based on attendance and salary records as well as testimonies by colleagues, the nurse’s habitual absenteeism worsened in 2005, when he no longer reported for work without anyone noticing but continued to receive a salary. The hospital director apparently retired and the new director failed to check the attendance details.
Investigators learned that the nurse, whose name was withheld, had been paid a monthly salary amounting to a total of 538,000 euros for the entire 15 years that he was absent from work.