Three men who worked at the FIFA World Cup match between England and France at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday were arrested for allegedly defrauding their employer.
According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, a manager for Sodexo Live, a vendor working World Cup games at the venue, notified deputies after noticing that employees were completing sales with customers in which the transaction total matched the correct amount, but “instead of charging for the items, they were providing the items for free to the customers, and the money” for the items “was being included as the defendants tip.”
The suspects have been identified as Angel Matta, 38, of Miramar; Justin Samuel, 46, of Lauderdale Lakes; and Marcus Tribble, 37, of Lauderhill.
According to deputies, the manager informed them that the devices used to conduct the transactions were all checked out at the start of a shift and used for the remainder of that shift, and that each suspect had to log into the device “with their unique identifier,” according to an arrest form.
The manager informed investigators that she observed a trend in which the same three suppliers worked for all six FIFA games. “All showing the same pattern of astronomically high credit card percentage tips,” according to the arrest paperwork.
Deputies reported that the total amount paid in tips rather than purchasing merchandise was $10,138.
All three defendants were detained and charged with felony organized fraud of $20,000 or less, as well as third-degree grand theft.
As of Sunday afternoon, they were all being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on $5,000 bonds each.
Leave a Comment