Email Submit
New London Fiddleheads Natural Foods Cooperative has filed suit against a former employee, alleging he embezzled more than $220,000 from the co-op over nearly four years.
The target of the suit is Robert Tompkins Jr., a trusted employee of the 13 Broad St. grocery store who was working as a systems administrator and had access to the co-op’s point-of-sale systems and security system.
From February 2017 through September 2020, the lawsuit alleges Tompkins faked refund transactions and refunded his own credit cards. The losses are estimated at $229,906.34.
In an email to some of the co-op’s owner/members on Wednesday, Fiddleheads board President Danny Spurr said a 2017 audit and subsequent financial reviews by the co-op’s certified public accountant had not identified any issues. A credit card processing company for the co-op notified Fiddleheads in September that there was something suspicious regarding a transaction linked to Tompki