WeldPro Lloydminster general manager Brad Shiloff awaits the initial court hearing of former employee, Alexa Joki. Jeannette Benoit-Leipert Meridian Source
A local business manager is in shock after finding out the hard way a trusted employee had allegedly scammed the company out of thousands of dollars.
Brad Shiloff, general manager at WeldPro Limited Lloydminster, said he wished he had picked up on some of the signs that started to appear over the past couple of years before things really got out of hand.
According to Shiloff’s latest calculations, Alexa Joki, 27, allegedly made off with over $50,000 in bogus EFT (Electronic Fund Transfers) transfers, e-transfers, credit card charges, and fuel card purchases.
She is charged with one count of fraud greater than $5,000 and is set to appear at the Saskatchewan Provincial Courthouse in Lloydminster on Jan. 8, 2024, at 9:30 a.m.
“Five years ago she came to me as a sweet young girl that you could barely get to talk. She started out delivering bottles and stock and stuff like that and then she worked her way up,” said Shiloff.
“I valued her employment here. I really, truly did. And she didn’t value it as much as I did, I guess. I don’t know how to fully trust the next person.”
Joki wasn’t just hired from a help-wanted ad either. Shiloff met her by word of mouth—through two welders that worked for him and mentioned they had a cousin who was looking for a job.
“She was working at a clothing store, and not getting full-time hours and we needed a full-time person, so she came in for an interview and it was great,” said Shiloff.
And things were great, for about two and a half years. There was a certain point where Shiloff began to see signs, but by that point, he thought he knew her quite well, and maybe she had just hit a rough patch.
The year-end books went to a chartered accountant, and he said they complained that it wouldn’t balance, but never came outright and said “Brad there’s money missing.”
“The red flags I should have seen were the meetings with my accountant, telling me things weren’t right. That’s my fault, I guess, ultimately. And then I think just the downhill slide in work ethic,” said Shiloff.
“Alexa’s desk was just atrocious—unbelievable. Like stuff from two years ago still out. Even her physical appearance, you could tell something was happening,” said Shiloff, adding he began to have suspicions Joki may have been having personal issues.
In May 2023, Shiloff found out what had been going on when he asked WeldPro Limited owner, Jodi Rideout, to have a look through the Lloyd branch books.
“I called Jodi and asked her to log into my computer to have a look at what is going on and see where we were at with year-end, because year-end always seemed to be a nightmare,” said Shiloff, adding that doesn’t mean much to him as a welder, and not an accountant.
“Jodi phones me a little while later and says ‘Brad, this is a disaster’.”
She decided to come to WeldPro Lloydminster for a week to help sort things out, and Joki’s reaction was alarming.
“I bring her (Jodi) upstairs and introduce her to Alexa and tell her Jodi is there the help out with year-end. The look on her face! She said ‘no, no I don’t need a hand. It’s too much when there’s two people.’ Jodi told her ‘No, I looked and you definitely need a hand’,” Shiloff recalled.
Rideout and Joki worked together for a week, and during that week another $3,200 went missing; Joki never showed up to work again.
Shiloff said they are still uncovering questionable transactions nearly five months later.
They discovered the bulk of the money was gone due to double payments being entered into the accounting program. The bank statement showed one payment to a vendor, but the accounting program had a double payment recorded, which is why the books didn’t balance at the end of the year.
Shiloff said when they approached the vendors to ask about the payments, they were very helpful and receptive to their situation.
“We have very good community support here. I’ve been in the trade since 2000, and I’ve worked in the area for a number of years,” said Shiloff.
“Probably 10-plus years, and for all the businesses around town and always had good relationships with them right out of the gate, which is why we were ultimately able to get through this.”
The penalty paid for the missing funds was not only financial, as Shiloff said it started to take a toll on his home life as well.
“I feel … it caused a tremendous amount of stress within my household. A new relationship, and with my kids—everything,” said Shiloff.
“You don’t even understand how bad that can get. When the kids are playing and you’re sifting through pages and pages of bank statements.”
Const. Brittany Sims, investigating officer on the WeldPro case, says it’s important employees are watched closely.
“Regardless of how much you trust your employees and how many rules you’ve set, unfortunately, no company is completely immune from fraud risk. For example, you should have a different person authorizing expenses than the person who keeps your records,” said Sims via email.
“When it comes to payroll, avoid having the same person setting up payment information for new hires and actually managing the payroll disbursement. Add review and approval steps to any system that doesn’t already have them in place.”
Shiloff said it was tough to re-hire someone to replace Joki after what happened, but moving forward, they have a system in place to safeguard the company against fraud.
“We’ve got a girl there now that’s doing a very good job. And the Edmonton location—of course, as you can imagine, are watching that closely to make sure it’s on the up and up,” said Shiloff.
“I am much more knowledgeable in the workings of how things go.”
Shiloff wanted to come forward with his story to bring awareness to fellow business owners and managers.
“I think it’s important for people to be aware of what could possibly happen if you are not fully engaged in basically all of the workings. There’s got to be accountability,” said Shiloff.
“You can’t take anything for granted. Which is terrible because there’s a lot of great people out there, but now I’ll always wonder.”
Shiloff and the rest of the WeldPro team are hoping the evidence presented in court will ultimately lead to a conviction. Stay tuned for more on this story following the Jan. 8, 2024 court proceedings.
