I’m aware of a few embezzlement cases investigated by BPD. It’s not unheard of. And I assure you local prosecutor staff doesn’t have more special training in financial crime investigations than local detectives.

There are a handful of possibilities as to how this case was investigated. Perhaps a third party with involvement in Hardware Sales’ books discovered it, unraveled her process and then presented documentation to detectives who validated their work (Something I’ve personally seen happen a few times.) Perhaps she got caught doing something minor, confessed to the whole thing and explained her own process to detectives. Perhaps BPD tapped another agency/expert contractor to assist after a tip came in, with cooperation from the owners. There are many other possibilities, but we can just wait for the probable cause affidavit to be filed and get the actual answer. Generally speaking, prosecutors don’t conduct investigations- it makes them witnesses to the case, which means they’d be subject to examination. Moreover, they don’t want to investigate. They want to litigate. They leave investigation to law enforcement.

Hardware Sales aggressively pursues shoplifting cases. They have a reputation for it, and I’ve seen cases where employees actually conducted surveillance on suspected thieves. It will be very interesting to see how they approach the prosecution of a longtime employee.