True Crime Lite: And The $5000 Question Is...Will He Get the Job?
There's a lot to worry about when preparing for a job interview. You want to dress appropriately and make a good first impression with your future boss. A firm handshake always helps, as my father always suggested. Then, there's the worry of saying the wrong thing. Or just simply not being as impressive as the previous interviewer. One worry for me has always been smiling too much. I want to appear friendly, but not as though I have lamp shades made of human skin in my living room. As badly as your worst job interview has gone, I can guarantee you it wasn't as bad as this guy's.
Alberto Saavedra Lopez was 32-years-old when he walked into what would be his worst job interview ever. The year before that, he had been employed at the Bank of America in Arizona, according to azcentral.com and their humorous coverage of this case. He had a good job that undoubtedly came with decent pay, but he got greedy. In October 2016, the Bank of America branch that Alberto worked for filed a theft report with police. They suspected that he had stolen about $5000 between July and September of that year.
With police in Yavapai County now investigating him, Alberto fled to Phoenix. Refusing to cooperate with authorities, he avoided them like the plague. He missed appointments to speak with investigators and dodged calls from the department. The Yavapai County Attorney's Office filed a warrant for his arrest upon his refusal to cooperate. For just over a year after, he managed to evade police as he blended seamlessly into his new surroundings. With his head down quietly, Alberto moved about the city completely unsuspected of any wrongdoing.
In December 2017, a job opened up with the Cottonwood Police Department in Arizona. They were in need of a new dispatcher. As the applications for employment were sifted through, background checks were also performed on the applicants. One background check in particular caught the attention of the department. Alberto Saavedra Lopez had applied for the position. When his screening came back, the warrant for his arrest in connection with the bank theft in Yavapai County came up, waving its giant red flag.
The Cottonwood Police had a choice to make at that moment. With his address in hand, they could simply go to his residence and arrest him. But where's the fun in that? They decided to call him for an interview for the dispatcher's position. The interview was scheduled for January 4, 2018, and when the day arrived, so did Alberto with bells on. He was immediately placed under arrest and, spoiler alert, he didn't get the job. Instead, he was charged with his theft from the Bank of America. Luckily, he didn't need to interview for his next job at the prison.
According to azcentral.com, the Cottonwood Police poked fun at the situation in their release. They stated that he was "out of the running for employment with the police department." While not much else can be said of the thief that tried to go into law enforcement, we can definitely say that he will not be gaining employment at a bank or a police department any time soon.
Some takeaways from this story: Maybe if you're going to steal, don't steal from your place of employment. They say not to lay your head where you shit for a reason. Furthermore, if you've been avoiding the police in one county, maybe don't apply for a job with a police department in another. While many employers now run background checks on applicants, the police deep dive your background before employment. And lastly, never be as dumb as this stupid criminal. $5000 isn't worth it.