Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
SUGAR CITY, Idaho — The owner of a Idaho game store is hoping to be compensated after three UPS workers allegedly stole what he believes to be at least $25,000 in merchandise and potential inventory sales from him.
Jarek Smith, owner of Holidae Fun and Games, says beginning in October 2023, he noticed that multiple UPS packages containing his inventory weren't being delivered and the company claimed they had been damaged.
"We had a package go missing back in October 2023, and we never could track it down to figure out what happened. Within a week, we had a second one, and it was marked as damaged from a liquid spill of some kind. They claimed that another package had leaked out of it, or leaked its contents onto other packages, and that damaged it beyond repair," says Smith. "I thought, well, that doesn't make any sense because the products that I have in my box are all shrink-wrapped."
In February, the business lost another package, with UPS claiming it was damaged too. Smith says a regular customer, a UPS worker but not one of the suspects, happened to be shopping in the store one day, and Smith decided to discuss the missing packages.
"This gentleman who works (at UPS) was at our store. I was just chatting with him and hanging out, and I said, 'Yeah, did you know you've been losing all of our packages?' We talked, and I said, 'Well, I'm pretty sure it's getting stolen at this point because it's the same supplier, and it's the same kind of products that they're getting.'"
Many of the alleged stolen packages contained playing cards for the popular game, Magic The Gathering. Depending on the cards, the decks can cost anywhere from tens to thousands of dollars.
Smith says the customer immediately began investigating at work, and they were able to catch one of the suspects.
Were valuable shipments targeted?
According to court documents, a deputy with the Madison County Sheriff's Office was assigned to the case in June and contacted the security supervisor at the UPS shipping facility in Sugar City.
The supervisor told the deputy they were investigating two employees, later identified as Jerry Hodges and John Forsyth, as they were suspected of stealing items from the facility.
Hodges reportedly worked in the area where damaged packages and items were processed and repackaged, according to police reports. Deputies say he "utilized his knowledge of incoming packages and their associated shipping companies to designate certain items as 'damaged.'"
Holidae Fun and Games is believed to have allegedly been targeted because of the suspects' interests in gaming.
The security supervisor described a specific incident, where Hodges reportedly took a package addressed to his relative, opened it and repackaged it in a larger box with a stolen Lord of the Rings six-disc set from a Holidae Fun and Games shipment.
Internal investigation
According to court documents, Hodges admitted in July to doing this multiple times and told deputies he would return the stolen items. Police reports say he eventually returned multiple PS5 games, Magic The Gathering cards, phone chargers, a Pixel Google phone, and miscellaneous clothing. Police believe he stole items worth at least $1,801.68.
On Aug. 15, the security supervisor reported to the deputy that they were investigating another employee, Mitchell Wilwand, as they believed he was removing damaged packages and taking them home.
UPS supervisors reportedly confronted Wilwand, and he admitted to stealing items and resigned from the company. Wilwand reportedly stole hand soap, two cases of Red Bull energy drinks, pre-workout powder, and dryer sheets, making the value at least $362.95.
It wasn't until Sept. 16 that Forsyth also reportedly admitted to stealing packages from the UPS facility. According to the security supervisor, Forsyth returned seven boxes of items he had taken, amounting to a total value of at least $4,798.30.
Forsyth met with a deputy on Sept. 24, where he admitted that the thefts began after his supervisor reportedly allowed him to take home damaged Hello Fresh subscription boxes. He reportedly said this escalated to him stealing more items from the damaged section of the facility.
Forsyth also told the deputy he knew it was prohibited, but stole anyway.
When asked if he targeted any specific kinds of packages, Forsyth allegedly stated that most of the items were damaged, but that he and two other employees, Hodges and Wilwand, would monitor incoming and outgoing packages from Holidae Fun and Games. They would then "mark the packages as damaged, or ensure they were damaged" and take them home.
According to Smith, he has tried multiple times to file a claim to get his money back, but since UPS had already filed the claim, he has yet to make progress in being reimbursed after the alleged thefts.
"(UPS) ended up keeping anything that we told them that we had lost, anything that they had actually managed to acquire. They kept it to themselves and never returned it to us because they had to use it as evidence against these individuals," says Smith. "And I'm thinking, great, but I'm the business who's suffering here, right?"
Smith says he hopes by speaking out, he can try to help his business after taking such a hit from the thefts, for which he has still not been reimbursed.
"As a retailer, there are several times over since October of last year that I could have (sold) that inventory and been making money on it…There's definitely some good eggs at UPS," says Smith. "But UPS as a corporation is doing me a disservice by not compensating me for the things lost that their employees stole."
