DELTONA, Fla. – A Walmart employee in Volusia County was arrested Monday night after a fellow employee noticed counterfeit bills in the Deltona store’s safe over the weekend.
On Sunday, an employee noticed the fake bills in the safe’s $10,000 cash bundle were counterfeit and told a manager who took a closer look at the bills, officials said.
The 76 bills totaling $7,600 were blue in appearance, each having a different thickness, texture with “FOR MOTION PICTURE USE ONLY” printed on them, officials said.
Officials said the manager told them the bills were wrapped in a bundle marked “DO NOT USE.”
When loss prevention officer went back to the safe on Monday to take another look at the counterfeit money, the bundle marked was still there, but the fake bills inside were missing, officials said.
After a review of the surveillance footage, officials said that Walmart employee Xiomara Matias-Cruz, 32, was on the footage.
Matias-Cruz who worked in the cash office went into the office on Monday at 6 a.m. to count and verify the money in the safe, which was a part of her normal shift duties.
“Then she found the white “DO NOT USE” package, opened it, made a phone call and appeared to take something from the bundle,” the release said.
Officials said she then left the store and drove off in her vehicle only 15 minutes into her work shift.
Further surveillance video review found that Matias-Cruz opened the safe in the cash office on Friday morning.