Prison for Supervisor who Stole $1.7m of Precious Metals

(IDEX Online) - A supervisor at a jewelry factory in the US has been sentenced after he admitted stealing over $1.7m in gold, silver and platinum from his employers.

Benjamin Preacher, 54, of North Attleboro, Massachusetts, abused his position to steal precious metals from the facility in Rhode Island and then sell them to various businesses in the state.

The company he worked for is not named in court documents, but Preacher describes himself on his LinkedIn profile as a lean manufacturing Supervisor for Tiffany & Co. where he says he's worked since August 2018.

He was sentenced to 59 days in prison (on 4 December) by a judge at the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, to be followed by two years of supervised release, including 10 months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service. 

Preacher was also ordered to forfeit $1,267,093.

According to court documents he stole scrap precious metals then drove into Massachusetts and then sold it to various businesses.

Pic courtesy US Attorney's Office shows some of the stolen metal.