The Home Depot employee who allegedly let customers walk off with more than $4,000 in merchandise for free told police she felt threatened to do so, according to recently filed court documents.
Makea Woodley-Grant, of St. Thomas, said a man she knew approached her at a bar in autumn 2023 and proposed she use her position as a part-time Home Depot employee to get him goods he needed. Woodley-Grant turned him down, she told police, but a few weeks later he was back — this time with the veiled threat that he knew where she and her mother lived.
The 26-year-old cashier allowed three different men to stroll out of Home Depot on four occasions between Nov. 30, 2023 and Dec. 28, according to the Virgin Islands Police Department. Woodley-Grant allegedly failed to scan or rang up and canceled $4,035.91 worth of windows, lumber, plywood, a table saw, and other merchandise.
Several monitoring systems within Home Depot, including security cameras, alerted store managers to the alleged thefts. Home Depot managers fired Woodley-Grant and called police, who said she admitted to allowing the thefts. The names of the three men who allegedly took the unpaid-for merchandise were not mentioned in court documents filed March 7 charging Woodley-Grant with six felonies: four counts of embezzlement, aiding and abetting grand larceny, and conspiracy to commit larceny. Each count carries a maximum of 10 years imprisonment.
