Hey Rick,
I haven't had time to read through 41-pages of this thread, and i have never met you that i'm aware of, but let me just say this:
Even though i do not know you, I'm with you here. Except, i would have done it differently. Let me explain...
Although i have never stolen from an employer, that's factually incorrect. I have stolen. And so has nearly every single person on this planet, as well as every person you have ever met. The problem is that people define stealing in very, very subjective ways. Here are some examples..
1. You work in a restaurant, hotel, Army base, PX, grocery store, etc, and your thirsty. You drink a coke, beer, or a bottle water without paying for it.
2. You work at one of the above locations and you've just worked 8-hours and your hungry, so you eat a candy bar or cupcake, chips, or whatever without paying for it.
3. You're doing your taxes and you're not exactly being forthcoming in all of your "Earned" income--i.e--selling items in your yard or garage sale, rental income, etc. (the list almost endless here, and almost no North American i have ever met lists all of their earned income).
Believe me, there are tens of thousands of other examples of how people "Pad" or "under-declare" their income in North America, and we don't even want to get into how construction companies, plumbers, electricians, and other trades do to cheat on their taxes (my brother works in construction here in Ohio).
Recently, I just went into a small side business here in Ohio with a man named, Ron, he owns slightly over 300 houses here in Montgomery county (Mostly Section 8 housing). He recently got out of "White Collar" prison for, yep...you guessed it, tax issues. He's a good friend of a friend, and he's doing what everyone else is doing here in America--fudging numbers. He got caught. he did 1.5yrs.
But i digress...
What i really want to say here is this: If i was in your exact same position, and i was not happy with my life, and i had the unique opportunity to steal 1-million dollars from a huge parent company, i would take the money and start burying it around different cities like a squirrel!!
I would be so fu^&&king busy burying money in PVC pipes people would think i was nocturnal. And then, i would go and turn myself in. Like right away. Like right now. I would say, "yep, i stole the money. I regret it, but now i'm ready to face the music!"
I would plead guilty and go straight to prison. When asked about where the money is, i would simply say i took it to different casinos throughout Latin America and lost it all. (I would make sure i traveled to several different Latin american countries and leave a paper trail of having visited them.)
Sure, i would be imprisoned for 5, 6, 7 years. Big deal. You're in prison in North America, man! You're not Banged-up-Abroad Asia, Africa, Latin America or any 3rd world country.
Doing time in the US or Canada, for me, would be like a vacation! Free food, medical care, libraries, books, gyms, etc. What's rough about that?
6 or 7yrs later after you get out of prison, you slowly start digging up your stash. And then you take off and go live the life you would never, ever, ever had the opportunity to live. Then you write a book about it and sell the movie rights. If the book is successful, or if the movie is successful, great...now you start paying back the money. And then guess what? You sit down and write another book about how you paid back all the fukkc7ing money with interest that you had stolen!! Suddenly, you got another made for movie story.
I go to go. I got to go have another coffee and think this thing through. I need to find someone with a millions dollars that trusts me with their Bank card & Pin Number.
Frank
