BOSTON -- The U.S. Attorney's office here said last week a former training executive at Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. has pleaded guilty to embezzling approximately $1 million from the chain over a two-year period.
ivision of Ahold USA, Chantilly, Va. The attorney's office said Stop & Shop referred the case to the Federal Bureau of Investigation after conducting its own internal investigation and subsequently cooperated fully with federal investigators.
Stop & Shop officials could not be reached for comment last week.
According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Swanson joined Stop & Shop in 1987 and, by 1997, was responsible for administering training programs for the chain, with authority to contract with outside vendors for amounts up to $5,000.
Beginning in January 1997, the attorney's office said, Swanson authorized Jessica L. Turner, his son's fiancee, to be a vendor for Stop & Shop under the name J.L.T. Adventure. Between January 1997 and December 1998, he admitted to issuing checks that cumulatively totaled $432,000 to Turner, who did not perform any services for Stop & Shop, the attorney's office indicated.
From February 1999 through September 1999, Swanson mailed checks totaling $588,056 to Turner's mother, Jean Turner, the attorney's office said. In all cases, the Turners deposited the checks into their individual bank accounts and then wrote checks for almost the exact same amounts payable to Swanson, the attorney's office said.
The U.S. Attorney said Swanson convinced the Turners he was collecting intelligence on drug dealers as an undercover employee of an unspecified agency. To lend credence to his story, the attorney's office said, Swanson occasionally gave the women computer disks wrapped in tissue paper and instructed them to leave the disks in trash receptacles in the restrooms of various Boston hotels, indicating they would be picked up by other agents.
