Opinion ID: 148904
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Pepsi Refrigerator Incident and Larceny Charges

Text: On June 14, 2007, the day after receiving the notice, Vereecke cleaned out his belongings from the athletic coordinator office, including a Pepsi mini-refrigerator. Vereecke concedes that he took the refrigerator without permission, but claims that he did so because he believed it had been given to him by a Pepsi representative a few years earlier. The refrigerator was one of six loaned to Milford for school-related use, but the Pepsi representative had not given anyone permission to take the refrigerators off the premises. Several Milford employees saw Vereecke remove the Pepsi refrigerator from the school and reported the removal to Krystyniak. The next day, Krystyniak asked police deputy Steve Dooley, the school liaison deputy from the Oakland County Sheriff's Department, to investigate. With Detective Chris Miller from the Sheriff's Office, Dooley went to Vereecke's house to investigate and saw the refrigerator sitting in plain view in Vereecke's garage. After speaking with Vereecke, who admitted he took the refrigerator but asserted his belief that it belonged to him, the officers confiscated the refrigerator and brought it back to Milford. The officers also issued Vereecke a ticket for larceny. The case was referred to the Oakland County prosecutor's office, which, on August 8, 2007, elected not to prosecute due to questions of Vereecke's intent at the time of the incident. Teasdale testified at his deposition that any time it is reported that a school employee has removed school property from the premises, the school district proceeds with the investigation by involving the police, and allowing them to investigate, prepare a report, and take the matter to the prosecutor who decides whether to proceed further. The teachers' union president, Mike MacGregor, qualified this assertion, explaining that he had never experienced any situation where a school reported an incident to the police without first notifying a union representative. Teasdale did contact MacGregor sometime in the evening on June 15, after the investigation had already been completed and the ticket issued. The investigation did not cause Vereecke to lose his job or tenure.