Benjamin C. Macy hangs his head as he listens to his former employer speak of the ongoing thefts from his grocery store.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The former Winlock grocery store manager accused of stealing lottery tickets was sentenced to prison today, as attorneys agreed the theft from his employer was closer to $1 million over the years.
Benjamin C. Macy, 52, was employed at the Cedar Village IGA some 30 years. He was arrested in May 2010 after a video surveillance camera showed him scratching off dozens of $20 tickets at 4:30 in the morning.
Macy hung his head as Cedar Village owner Raleigh Stone addressed him this morning in Lewis County Superior Court.
“Ben, you were one of the richest men I knew,” Stone said, reading from a page he’d written. “Rich in family, friends, community and co-workers who equally respected you for the man they thought you were.”
“I trusted you like a brother,” Stone said.
Stone went on to say Macy was named in his will, had delivered the eulogy for Stone’s mother, and continued to steal from the store even after knowing Stone withdrew $50,000 from his retirement in order to pay the bills.
“It’s a shame you and your family made more money off my business than my family did in 31 years,” Stone said.
Some 50 people packed the seats in the Chehalis courtroom this morning as Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead and defense attorney Don McConnell told the judge what they felt the sentence should be.
Macy pleaded guilty in October to five counts of first-degree theft.
In a separate civil case, Macy agreed to pay Stone almost $305,000, and sign over his house, a $30,000 truck and coin collection.
“I gave all those last week to Mr. Stone,” attorney Don McConnell told the judge.
McConnell said he’d never met someone more sorry than his client.
Macy stood and turned toward his former employer when it was his turn to speak.
“It’s been going on a long time,” Macy said. “Way too long. Raleigh, I’m sorry,” he said.
The former Winlock resident apologized to Stone’s family, to his former co-workers and his own family for embarrassing them.
According to Stone, while people generally thought the theft was only lottery tickets, it was much more.
Since January 2005, the forensic accountant determined more than $900,000 was missing, and that was above and beyond thousands of dollars from the previous years in which the statute of limitations had passed, Stone said.
And then there was more than $538,000 in lottery winnings from stolen tickets, he said.
Halstead said the thefts added up to in excess of $1 million. McConnell said his accountant determined it was something less than that.
Th standard sentencing range, established by the legislature, is 12 to 14 months in prison. Halstead recommended 12 months and one day.
Judge Richard Brosey told Macy his actions could possibly had put the only grocery in Winlock out of business.
There’s no excuse, no justification, Brosey said.
He sentenced Macy to 14 months in prison.
Macy, who has been free on bail since his arrest, was handcuffed and led out of the courtroom.
Benjamin C. Macy is taken away by a corrections officer from the Lewis County Jail.
•••
Read background here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
It was Mari, Dave, and she still has lottery mania to this day.
This Macy guy has got to be the creepiest guy in our county, next to Patty Prouty. Both violated TRUST. The most sustaining quality in life. These two creeps had positions of authority and wrecked havoc on hundreds of lives. At least this creep was sorry enough to make at least an attempt on restitution. Patty Prouty laughed all the way to the bank and opened up her own business. I found them both to be quite disturbing creatures. They are like cancers that infiltrate. We need to put more attention towards these types of crimes. They have the power to ruin lives just like any other crimes. These crimes against the soul are hard to come back from.
This is the same thing that happened to our store, just on a smaller scale about 100k. We trusted our manager and in the end she got away with because of a lazy detective and in the end the employee had no assets. The Washington state lottery has no safe guards. The lottery sends you tickets on a weekly basis. You never know when they are coming and anyone can sign for them. You do not need a code to activate them, you can activate a whole pack with just one ticket. This state is making millions of dollars off of stolen tickets by employees and they don’t care.