Human resources manager defrauded Palmyra Lowe's of $130,000, police say

A human resources manager at the Lowe's Home Improvement store in Palmyra reportedly defrauded the company of more than $130,000, North Londonderry Township police said.

On Dec. 8, Lowe's Home Improvement reported the theft to N. Londonderry police. Police were advised the company funds that were taken totaled in excess of $80,000.

Over several weeks, police worked with Lowe's loss prevention and other government agencies to uncover an "elaborate scheme," involving stolen identities of 46 former employees committed by Keynan Kinard, a 25-year-old Harrisburg resident and human resources manager at Lowe's.

Kinard was taken into custody on Thursday.

Beginning in July, Kinard began changing the employment status of employees who had left the company, N. Londonderry police said. Instead of making the employee inactive, Kinard would list them still as active.

He would alter company software to show a pay increase for each employee and W-4 tax documents were then changed to show the maximum number of dependents, maximizing the net pay for each employee, police said.

Kinard then signed each employee up for a "Money Card," a debit card that is loaded with the employee's paycheck.

The Money Cards would then be mailed to the store so the employee was unaware of the activity. Once Kinard had the Money Card, he would withdraw the funds and deposit them in his personal bank account, police said.

The fraud was discovered when an audit was completed by the issuing company of the Money Cards. They noticed an unusually high amount of cards being issued to the Lowe's store in Palmyra, police said.

The Lowe's corporate office was notified of the discrepancy and assigned a loss prevention officer to investigate.

After the investigation, Lowe's reported a total loss of $130,708. All 46 former employees have been notified by Lowe's.

Kinard faces numerous charges, including: dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, theft by unlawful taking or disposition, unlawful use of computer and other computer crimes, 46 counts of identity theft, 46 counts of access device fraud and 46 counts of tampering with records or identification.

Kinard was arraigned Thursday in front of Magisterial District Judge Anthony Verna. His bail was set at $100,000.