May 19, 2008 9:29 pm US/Mountain
Store Employees Fired After Terrifying Holdups
Written by investigative reporter Brian Maass
DENVER (CBS4) ―
Four employees of a nationwide check cashing company are striking back and speaking out about what they call "outrageous" corporate conduct.
All four were the victims of terrifying armed robberies at ACE Cash Express stores in Denver in the last six months. The Dallas-based company fired each of them within three days after they were held up for "not following proper security procedures," according to the employees. In each case, the workers believe following company security procedures would have left them dead.
"We believe when everybody follows the procedures it protects everyone," Eric Norrington, an ACE Vice President, said. "When you fail to do so, it puts everyone at risk."
"The company needs to know it's not okay to fire victims; its not good," said Felicia Dia, who worked for ACE for six years and was a district training manager.
In Dia's case, she and a second ACE worker, Desiree Lopez, were robbed Jan. 11 at an ACE store at 4890 Chambers Road in Denver. Two masked men jumped down from the ceiling surprising the two women. One of the men had a gun.
"I kept thinking how it was going to end and I thought I was going to die," Lopez said.
The gunmen seemed to have knowledge of company security procedures, warning the women not to enter any "funny code" into the safe. Workers say they can send a silent "stress alarm" that will summon police by punching additional numbers into the keypad when opening a store's safe. They can also get help by hitting panic alarms located throughout the stores.
"He says I better not see any police. If I do, I'm going to kill you guys," Dia said.
The women said the robbers got away with $25,000.
Three days later, both women said company managers met with them and fired them, saying they failed to follow "security procedures."
"What did you expect me to do with a guy standing there with a gun telling me he's going to kill us?" Dia said. "We would be dead if we didn't do what they told us."
Monica Perea told a nearly identical story. She was working at an ACE store Nov. 3, 2007 at 361 South Colorado Blvd. A robber dropped through the roof of the store and held a gun to her head.
"I honestly thought I was going to die. I thought I was never going to see my children ever again,' said the mother of two. "I was terrified."
Perea said the gunman warned her not to put anything "funny" in the keypad as he held the gun to the back of her head.
"I thought if I hit the panic button and police showed up, I was going to die." She said.
Perea said the thief got $9,000.
Three days later the company terminated her for failing to follow proper security procedures.
"I was always told during a robbery (to) cooperate," she said. "They (ACE) told me my life was more important than money. Money was replaceable, my life wasn't."
Andre Robledo said he liked his $15.50 an hour job as an ACE manager until the morning of Jan. 21. A masked gunman approached him as he opened the store at 3375 Colorado Blvd. He said the gunman threatened to "smoke him" if he used the panic buttons or entered alarm codes into the safe. Robledo said he tried anyway, but was not successful in entering the stress alarm in the store's safe. He now thinks if he had succeeded in summoning police, "I probably would have been killed." The gunman got $26,000, according to Robledo.
The very next day, Robledo, a father of two, was told to meet with his district manager. He thought the company was going to offer him counseling.
"When I got there he told me I was terminated for failure to follow security procedures," he said.
The fired workers have now hired an attorney and filed suit against the company for its conduct.
"This is just one of the most callous, outrageous ways of treating an employee that I've ever heard of," said Gregg McReynolds, the attorney representing the workers.
McReynolds said the corporation re-victimized the four employees by making them scapegoats.
ACE, which offers a variety of check cashing and financial services, has 42 stores in the metro area and 1,700 stores nationwide. The company released a statement Monday saying, "ACE Cash Express regrets these incidents. ACE is confident that it acted appropriately with regard to these unfortunate incidents in Colorado, has denied the allegations of any wrongful or unlawful employment actions and will defend its actions in this legal matter."
"Corporate America is going to get the message that you cannot abuse employees," McReynolds said. "That's the message here."
Denver Police said they have arrested one man in connection with the robberies, but are seeking other suspects.
Additional Resources:Read the entire lawsuit
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