Beware the Business Saboteur

In the end, while her father didn't want to pursue the case, Heffernan did, and now she's serving jail time for taking what amounts to nearly $4,000 a week from her family's company for almost five years.

While Heffernan admits he felt stupid for allowing this to happen, like most business owners, there's a level of trust, especially when it comes to family. In this case, however, the real trust came from loyal customers, vendors and others who were supportive and continued to do business with the 35-year-old aluminum company.

"You need to have a system of checks and balances, even in a family-owned and -run business," says Heffernan, who learned the hard way, but has moved on and seen the company continue to thrive.

Jay Myers, founder, president and CEO of Interactive Solutions, based in Memphis, Tenn., was also the victim of an inside job. Not only did Meyers go full force to land the perpetrator in jail, but he also wrote a book about the story. The situation still distresses him today, some five years later.

"We hired an account manager in early 2002 who ended up stealing over $250,000 from us, along with the receptionist, whom I later learned was her daughter," says Myers, who, at the time, was in the process of building his business.

Myers says the unexpected death of his older brother is what caused him to stop paying attention to the business. "I was having a hard time just coming into the office and couldn't cope with anything. She took advantage of the situation, wrote checks to herself and even used a rubber stamp to forge my signature," Myers adds.