Keeping Bad Apples Out: Vendor Says His Data Base on Thefts Can Help

Because banks are loath to prosecute or face bad publicity, most employee theft gets swept under the rug.

Dennis duNann hopes to change that.

He has developed a data base to help weed out prospective employees who have crimes in their pasts. His product, TheftNet, is a shared file of theft cases.

"If someone gets terminated from Bank of America for stealing customer lists, obviously Wells Fargo would like to make sure they don't hire this individual unknowingly," said Mr. duNann, chief executive officer of a Deluxe Corp. subsidiary, Employment Screening Partners of Seattle.

His scenario: When a financial institution discovers an employee stealing, it either gets a signed admission of guilt or presses charges. The case also gets added to TheftNet.

When a company is considering a job candidate, it runs the name through the TheftNet file. If it is in there, Employment Screening Partners mails a letter informing the applicant of the search. All information in the data base is legally shareable. After a seven-year statute of limitations expires, a name is deleted from the file.

"It's damn important," said Jerome Svigals, head of Jerome Svigals Inc., a consultant in Redwood City, Calif. "I would strongly encourage any data- base sharing technique that allows a better understanding of employee backgrounds."

Mr. duNann expects TheftNet also to serve as a deterrent, sending a signal "that there are consequences for theft."

TheftNet was launched in January. Mr. duNann is working to get financial institutions on board, but his system to date has only retailers like Home Depot and Target. The more participants, the more effective the data base.

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