Naples 7-Eleven clerk accused of stealing thousands of dollars in cash from store

A Naples 7-Eleven store clerk is accused of stealing thousands of dollars in cash from the store over a period of several months.

A Naples Police Department report says the store owner told them Julien Noel, 37, devised a “scheme” to pocket money by manipulating cash transactions whenever he rang up customers. He would void cash transactions, then keep the money, the owner said.

Noel is believed to have taken more than $5,700 since January.

The report states the owner became aware of the problem after being notified by 7-Eleven’s point-of-sale system that Noel had more “PLU lookups” than most other employees. A “PLU lookup” is used to look up the price of items, and that’s how Noel was defrauding the store, the report states. He would scan customers’ purchases as a PLU lookup to see the total price of the purchases, then accept the customers’ cash payment and keep it while voiding the PLU lookup. He placed the money in the register and provided change, but later took the money from the register. The report said Noel would do this several times during his shifts.

During one shift in March, Noel pocketed nearly $400 taken during 24 transactions, the report shows. In an April shift, he took nearly $300 from 17 transactions.

Noel told detectives during an interview that he hadn’t taken as much as was claimed and only took “excess money that was left behind by customers.” Detectives noted he was very apologetic and he said times were hard. He expressed the desire to make it right, they said.

The journal entries, interviews and surveillance videos from inside the store helped detectives establish probable cause to arrest Noel, who is facing one count of felony grand theft. He was arrested Saturday and has since been released from the Collier County jail on bond.