Like many AIU graduates, after graduation, you decided to go into business as a

Like many AIU graduates, after graduation, you decided to go into business as a private investigator. You own your own private investigation firm, performing criminal defense investigations for criminal defense attorneys. You have conducted numerous criminal investigations, including those for murder, drug-related crimes, fraud, theft, and sexual assault. Normally, when you are conducting these investigations, you are looking for defenses to these crimes, but now you have been hired by a company to conduct an unbiased investigation into an allegation of fraud. You always conduct unbiased investigations, and you have conducted more than 30 fraud investigations in your 5 years since graduating from AIU. You have completed your investigation on allegations against a plant employee of an acquired corporation, Lakes Inc., that is based on the basic information given below. Create a report on the results of your investigation, and present the final results that your investigation has concluded. Remember that this investigation is your first opportunity for this company; thus, you want to do your absolute best in creating the report so that you can get more business from this company. Your report needs to be based on facts, and you must support your conclusions with facts and supported research as you were taught at AIU.
The following are the main points of the investigation, including what took place and the findings of the investigation:
You conducted an investigation at the plant of Lakes, Inc., based on an anonymous tip that the company received on June 12, 2007, that an employee was submitting false expense claims.
The tip stated that an invoice for the purchase of a computer server was false and that the actual purchase was for a high-definition (HD) flat-screen television.
The company requested that you perform the investigation.
The investigation took place from August to November 2009.
The investigation determined that $8,795.60 in false invoices had been submitted for reimbursement through the purchasing department.
The associate director of purchasing and his administrative assistant were terminated.
The investigation determined that there was no original invoice on file but only a copy. The purchase was made with a corporate-purchased card issued to Mr. Bob Smith, the Associate Director of Purchasing.
The vendor, Sterns, was contacted and confirmed that the invoice number on the file copy matched that on the invoice that they had for the sale of an HD television.
Lakes, Inc., maintains a physical asset database in which all non-disposable items with a purchase price of $1,000 or more are recorded. Each item is assigned a unique ID number and bar code label, which are used to track the item. The database is maintained by the administrative assistant.
There was no record of the computer server in the physical assets database, and no ID number had been issued for any similar item in the past 10 months.
An on-site visit was made to Sterns, an approved vendor since May 2005.
The manager, Mr. Ted Jones, advised that in the past 6 months, the same individual, Mr. Bob Smith, had made two other purchases that he considered odd because he asked that the purchase be held for pickup by either him or his administrative assistant, Ms. Mary Bad.
Mr. Jones also noted that Ms. Bad had used Mr. Smith’s purchase card to make an additional three purchases with the same request that they be held for pickup.
Mr. Jones provided copies of the invoices that showed the purchase of a notebook computer, a digital camera, a digital camcorder, a Global Positioning System (GPS) device, and a home theater system.
When these invoices were compared with the plant purchasing records, it was found that the files only contained copies as opposed to originals. Each of the file copies matched an original invoice as far as the invoice number, date, and amount, but they were different as far as what was purchased. All other purchases were made with the same purchase card and approved by Mr. Smith.