SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Two alleged Christmas-time criminals are under arrest after each was caught stealing thousands of dollars from their own employer’s cash registers at the Arden Fair Mall.

Cops arrested Sears employee Rowan Chan for stealing $2,700 from his job, and Macy’s employee Imani Randle for stealing $7,700 from her job.

Both were booked within hours of each other.

A Sacramento Police spokesperson says each retail employee was in charge of a store register and in both cases, put company cash on their own debit and credit cards for weeks by ringing up fake returns.

“Basically we call it phantom returns,” Security expert Terry Brown said.

Brown owns Armor Bearer Protective Services. He says Christmas time is a busy time for store security, monitoring their own employees, and phantom returns are an old trick.

“The register matches, and so before someone becomes the wiser, who knows who did what?,” Brown said.

Brown says store managers ought to sign for every return.

If found guilty the two arrested employees could face sentences of up to three years in jail.