Former gas station employee arrested after allegedly stealing nearly $30K

IDAHO FALLS — A 20-year-old former gas station employee was arrested after his boss told police he had been stealing blank checks and wrote them out to himself.

Moroni Ramirez-Perez is charged with grand theft, forgery, possession of a forged check and grand larceny, all felonies.

According to court documents, the owner of Shaka’s Convenience store told Idaho Falls Police on June 30 that Ramirez-Perez, a former employee, had been forging blank checks from the business.

The owner told police that Ramirez-Perez wrote out 34 checks to himself, totaling $29,347 between March 7 and May 10, 2024.

According to the owner, the checks had been pre-stamped with her signature so that any employee could use them to pay vendors who delivered to the store if the manager was unavailable.

Ramirez-Perez was reportedly not authorized to use the checks. The owner says they have since changed their policy so that only managers can access the checks.

Officers wrote in the report that the stolen checks were all handwritten to Ramirez-Perez.

On July 16, officers spoke to Ramirez-Perez, who claimed he “did not know anything about any missing items and said that he had moved out of state, so he would not be able to come in for an interview,” according to court documents.

The officer asked Ramirez-Perez if he would be in Idaho Falls any time soon, and he said he did not know but “would be happy to answer questions over the phone.” The officer requested that Ramirez-Perez contact him the next time he was in Idaho Falls.

On Aug. 14, the officer tried to contact Ramirez-Perez three more times about the allegations and received a message stating that the “request was denied or not available at this time.”

The officer tried to call Ramirez-Perez again on Aug. 15 and received the same message.

A warrant for Ramirez-Perez’s arrest was issued on Feb. 4 and served on Wednesday. He was booked into the Bonneville County Jail on a $50,000 bond.

Ramirez-Perez is expected to appear for a preliminary hearing on March 25. If convicted, he could face up to 56 years in prison.

Though Ramirez-Perez has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.

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