Expand / Collapse search
☰

Employee accused of stealing $80K worth of frozen fish from Warren warehouse

By and FOX 2 Staff
Published  May 16, 2023 6:20pm EDT
Crime and Public Safety
FOX 2 Detroit

Employee steals $80K in fish from warehouse

An employee at Lipari Foods in Warren is accused of stealing about $80,000 worth of fish from the warehouse. He would have another man come pick up the fish once the supervisors were gone.

WARREN, Mich. (FOX 2) - An employee at a food supplier in Warren is accused of stealing about $80,000 worth of frozen seafood over the course of five months.

Lipari Foods employee Erwin Wilson, 30, is accused of working with another person, 50-year-old Michael Mitchell, to sneak pounds and pounds of fish out of the warehouse.

Erwin Wilson

"Crab legs, lobsters, and catfish," said Lt. Daniel Bozek, with Warren police. "It's sad that they have to worry about their own employees stealing from them."

Bozek said Wilson would put food off to the side for Mitchell to come get.

"Pick a specific day, usually on a Friday after most of the supervisors were gone, he would then put product on the side and call in an associate to come pick the product up," he said. 

Michael Mitchell

Lipari started to notice something unusual happening after a few months, and an investigation started. 

"We just monitor that employee, and he happened to get greedy one last time, and we caught him in the act," Bozek said.

Wilson was charged with embezzlement – less than $100,000, and Mitchell was charged with receiving and concealing stolen property.