London Drugs employee sentenced for stealing $2M in laptops, electronics from company

People wait outside of the London Drugs Kerrisdale location on Monday, April. 29, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

A 34-year-old London Drugs employee has been sentenced to two years in prison for stealing approximately $2 million in merchandise from the company over the course of five years.

Carlos Santos pleaded guilty to stealing laptops and other high-dollar electronics from the company's Richmond, B.C., distribution centre and reselling the items online.

The sales earned Santos an estimated $750,000 to $1 million in profits before he was caught, according to a B.C. provincial court sentencing decision delivered last month but published online Monday.

Judge Nancy Phillips described the thefts as "unsophisticated," noting the scheme involved little more than Santos removing laptops from their boxes and tucking the computers under his shirt before heading to the staff locker room where he would put them in his backpack and walk out with the loot at the end of his shift.

"Mr. Santos did not, for example, create false records or become involved in some other type of manipulation other than the simple process of placing items in a secreted place on his person, putting them in a bag, recycling the packaging, leaving with the item at the end of the shift, and putting them on a social media site for resale," the judge noted.

"Of course, the difference here is that the quantum or the economic loss to London Drugs is much greater."

The thefts began in February 2017, just four months after Santos was hired at the company, and continued until he was caught in January 2022.

Santos ripped off hundreds of items during that time, including 52 items taken while he was under company surveillance, in what the judge described as a "staggering" and "clearly deliberate" scheme.

'Act of vengeance'

Santos, who had no prior criminal record, confessed to police that he began stealing from London Drugs as "a bit of an act of vengeance against his employer" because he was "unhappy with the company and its wages and pace," the judge summarized in her July 19 sentencing decision.

"I am told that Mr. Santos spent the money mostly to fund his lifestyle and to do such things as paying bills, to buy medicine for his family, and to make online purchases," the judge noted.

A London Drugs investigations manager provided a victim impact statement to the court, detailing hundreds of investigative hours spent solving the crimes.

Santos first came to the attention of company management when a supervisor saw him hiding a laptop under his shirt, prompting investigators to conduct surveillance on the employee. "During the surveillance, Mr. Santos took about $100,000 worth of items," according to the court.

Santos co-operated with police and company investigators, providing an itemized account of everything he stole and the approximate resale value of each item. He also surrendered 13 unsold stolen items to police during their investigation, the judge noted.

In addition to the two-year prison sentence, Santos was ordered to submit a DNA sample to the court and pay $750,000 in restitution to the company.