Carthage man accused of embezzling $200,000 from Newton County business, says he has gambling addiction

The Newton County Prosecuting Attorney's office filed felony stealing charges today against a Carthage man who allegedly embezzled $200,000 from the business where he worked.

The crime Troy James Reynolds (DOB 1969) is accused of committing occurred in 2020 and 2021, according to the probable cause statement. The place of business is not mentioned in court records.

From the probable cause statement:

RP (Reporting Party) claims he employed Troy Reynolds at his business from 2019-2021. {He} claims Troy stole money during his employment. RP claims he discovered money was missing at the end of the year when the business was significantly short on money. {He} began checking daily "cash sheets" and found on days Troy worked, there were discrepancies on the amount of money taken from the drawers compared to the amount of money written on the cash sheet and placed in the safe. 

RP began watching security video which never showed Troy physically taking any money, but he located three different videos where Troy takes and counts money from the drawer and then put a different amount on the cash sheets. 

On 04/10/2020 at 1211 he said Troy puts a paper clip on $1000 worth of hundred-dollar bills. He said Troy then counts out $1800 in hundred-dollar bills, paper clips them and then writes $2000 on the cash sheet. 

On 04/13/2021 1313 he said Troy pulls out $500 in hundred-dollar bills, $500 in twenty dollar bills and writes down a $500 dollar loss. 

On 04/15/2021 1408 he said Troy pulls out a paperclip stack of $1000 in hundred dollar bills and counts out an undetermined amount of bills, paper clips the bundle, puts $700 back into the drawer and writes down $2000 on the cash sheet. 

On 04/15/2021 1736 he said Troy pulls $1600 out and paper clips it. He said Troy then takes $1000 out in hundred-dollar bills, and then writes $1000 on the cash sheet. 

On 04/29/2021 RP recorded a phone conversation between him and Troy. I reviewed the recording. It appears you cannot hear the other male's voice (who RP said is Troy) until around 05:27. 

RP said it looks like it has been going on for quite some time asked if he was gambling for a while and quit again. He said it's quite a bit of money did you have anything put back and the male said "no, I didn't realize it had been that long. I knew that I had but I didn't realize it had been that long." 

The male then asks how much are you figuring. During the call RP speaks of his attorney writing up a "repayment agreement" and the male says "you know, it's, again I have no excuse I'm sorry." 

The male also says "I'll get with you to get you the cash and the keys and stuff,' 'I'll get with you and we'll get stuff taken care of, I promise" and asks to meet RP in person to apologize. 

RP mentions it was a lot of money and said "you think you either have it stashed or you're spending it on something." 

The male says "Yeah, I just been paying bills to try and keep afloat. I did get sued by a company, actually two companies." The male says "that was my problem and I made it your problem, and I'm sorry." 

On 04/12/2024 I made contact with Troy and completed an audio recorded interview. After being Mirandized, Troy admitted to stealing money from the business. Troy said RP went back to the day he started and blamed Troy for every penny he could not account for. Troy said he had a gambling addiction, which is why he took money. 

Troy said he believes the largest amount he took at one time was around $700 and believes he took a total of around $5,000. Troy said he was more than willing to work out a payment plan with the business but he could not pay back what he was being accused of. 

Troy said he would "slip" a couple hundred dollar bills when he was counting the drawers. Troy said RP would come in during the day and take out money from the drawers without writing it down, so there is no accurate cash sheets. RP has not provided me with an exact loss amount, but initially said it was approximately $200,000.00.

A warrant was issued for Reynolds' arrest with bond set at $1,000 cash only.

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