[Nikpounder]

Posted elsewhere online:

It was a computer software flaw that, in the words of the business’ co-owner, turned into “a license to steal” for three employees who took baseball, football and hockey trading cards worth $1.3 million. The $1.3 million represents the retail value of the boxes of cards the three employees stole and does not include any money they made from selling the most valuable of the cards on eBay.

The three who worked at Dave and Adam’s Card World exploited the flaw that let them buy a single box of sports trading cards on a credit card and then purchase additional boxes without being charged.

“They could have been human beings and told us about it, but instead they decided to become criminals,” said Adam Martin, co-owner of the Town of Tonawanda-based trading card company. "If they had come forward and told the company about the flaw, they would have received big bonuses", he said.

But now they face up to 15 years in prison. The three men – Aaron Hollars, 31, of West Seneca; Anthony Martone, 30, of Amherst; and David Woods, 25, of Williamsville – pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny this week in Erie County Court, according to District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III.

The trading card company, which started in 1991, will survive thanks to its online sales, Martin said. “If we had only our retail stores, this would have bankrupted us,” Martin said.

But the losses have set back the company. Six employees were laid off. And holiday bonuses the company gives its nearly 70 employees will not be as big.

“These three employees did this without considering how it would affect other employees,” Martin said.

The crime happened over an 18-month period between January 2013 and this July, prosecutors said. The three offenders worked as managers or assistant managers, rotating among the company’s four retail stores in Clarence, the Town of Tonawanda, Orchard Park and Niagara Falls. Hollars discovered the flaw that allowed him to buy a single box of sports trading cards on his credit card, then purchase additional boxes without being charged.

“He decided it was a license to steal,” Martin said.

Hollars told the two others about the flaw one night while they were out drinking, Martin said. All of the stolen boxes contained sports trading cards, mostly of baseball, football and hockey players. Hollars stole more than $800,000 in cards, while Martone got more than $100,000, and Woods collected more than $400,000, prosecutors said.

“It’s very discouraging,” Martin said. “They were close to us. We treated them well.”

Martin said he does not know how many cards the suspects sold on eBay or how much money they obtained from those sales. The theft was discovered earlier this summer when company officials noticed that the amount of money they should have received from credit card sales fell far short of what they got, resulting in losses. The three are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 8 by Erie County Judge Kenneth F. Case.