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Sunday, September 01, 2013

Impact Statement Read At Crystal Morris Godwin Trial

The loss goes deeper than Crystal stole and embezzled money. Her and her family were our family from her father to her grandson and were treated as such.  Annette considered her a sister. Her daughters were treated as their daughters and were loved as their own. Alicia was an employee and Hayley and Hannah were allowed to spend time at the store instead of Crystal having to hire a sitter or sending the girls to summer camp. Uniforms Unlimited has always been a family of its own.  Crystal stole not just from us, but from the entire staff.  Had she been honest, we would have been able to give raises and more perks for our employees. Crystal worked for Uniforms Unlimited for 12 ½ years and the entire time she has been a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

From the night crystal showed up at our house with Brooks and the girls with cash and a credit card to pay for an order that could not be tracked…to the edible arrangement that was given to the staff as a thank you that the staff never saw because she had her daughter put it in her husband’s truck & then used it as a center piece for a family dinner…to Good Friday in April when Jimmy walked up on the no sale with Carol and we knew then she was stealing and no longer could be a part of our family.  Do you know where we were on Good Friday Eve?  We took her family including daddy out to dinner as a celebration of Brooks’ last surgery and as a thank you for running the store while we were out-of-town in the winter.  Not 12 hours later, our thank you was her stealing the first cash sale on Friday.  Good Friday was a blessing in 2012.

We had to refinance and restructure mortgages and equipment payments just to pay vendors and make payroll.  We put a brand new cash register in prior to going on vacation, only to come home to be told by another employee that the cash register was broke all week until 3 p.m. Friday afternoon, when we were on our way home.  When that employee let us know of the theft we put cameras in.  We lost that employee.  She quit because Crystal made things so difficult for her, to the point she had to go to the doctor multiple times and the doctor advised her to resign.  The day that Crystal was fired, that employee asked to return to our store.   She has currently been back for more than a year. Crystal plays some mean mind games and most employees who have quit have been in part because of Crystal.

We have had to endure multiple stories of customers who said she was rude and they stopped shopping until they found out she was gone.  We have had businesses who quit dealing with us because she told them we no longer wanted their business.  We have had people come in and ask for the owner.  When the real owners come out the say no the lady with blonde hair.  Once we explain who owns Uniforms Unlimited and ask them why they thought she owned it, their response is, She told me she did.


We have spent countless hours watching video of her stealing from us and then being nice to our face.  She was given $200.00 cash prior to the day of her husband’s surgery to help cover expenses in Baltimore, Annette took her father up there so he could be with her because of complications with surgery, and then sent their son to pick him up once discharged.  What does she do?  She comes back on Monday after being off Friday and Saturday and the first thing she does is roll out the register tape to see how much cash she missed Friday and Saturday and then stole the 1st cash sale of the day. Talk about a smack in the face.

We have spent the last 17 months trying to correct situations and educate people about the real Uniforms Unlimited.  Seventeen months seems like a long time, but the stories and complaints are still very real to us, our employees and our customers.  Every week is still another story.

We use to think no one paid cash.  Well after the first 4 months following her termination, we knew that was not correct.  In four month’s time, all vendors were paid within 30 days current and the lines of credit at the bank were paid in full for the first time in years.  When you go from less than $100 per day in cash sales to $500 - $2000 per day in cash sales the writing is on the wall.  We also doubled our staff to accommodate our customers and the additional orders.  Now we know why Crystal didn’t want anyone working in the store with her and why she always asked to be paid for vacation instead of taking a vacation.

Crystal and everyone in her family should have to sit and watch the countless hours of video of her theft and embezzlement.  How someone could be so nice to your face and then turn her back and steal every single day is way beyond comprehension.  She not only stole the cash, she let the customers leave with the goods.  What she has offered to reimburse does not even touch the compensation for the garments & goods that were taken and the items that were left in a bag or a box that we could not see.  We paid her an hourly wage, her medical, dental and vision for years along with vacation pay. We also paid her for the times she took off when her father was ill and in the hospital, when her husband had numerous surgeries and for her mother’s illnesses, hospital stays and bereavement pay when her mother passed away.  We have been there for so many life events over the past 12 ½ years and to be disrespected and the breach of trust is not comprehensible.

She owes a sincere apology to us and our staff, but no one with her attitude or the severity of her actions knows what sincerity is about.  We will never believe that she could be sorry for what she has taken from us, she is just sorry she was caught.

Uniforms Unlimited will celebrate 20 years next year and to think what we could have been and what we could have achieved without her is endless.  Turning this information over to the state was not easy until we realized that if her previous employers had made that decision prior to us, we would have not been sitting in the position she put us in.  We are so thankful for the hard lesson learned and hope that a felony conviction will let others know who she really is and be able to save other innocent families and business from her demise.

16 comments:

  1. Go cry me a river. These Eastern Shore business owners think employees owe them their everlasting soul. She apparently ran the business while they were always on "vacation."

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  2. I'm glad that you got restitution and that justice was served. It sounds like YOU weren't doing your diligence as business owners- it's a wonder that you've been in business this long!

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  3. So that gives her the right to steal 7:32???? Must be a democrat....

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  4. there are many business who hire people to manage or run a business, they are not hired to thieve, steal and embezzle from them. sounds to me their employees are not a number but a family member and are treated well and are appreciated

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  5. 7:32 am.....criminal minds think alike.

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  6. Really 7:32, Really?

    Jim and Annette have worked their ass off, put more time in everyday than you do in a month probably. Crystal is and will always be a thief and more.

    You keep tight with her, maybe your in her black book also.

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  7. 7:32 is an IDIOT!!!

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  8. I am sorry for the pain and loss, but at the end of the day, the "business" was not run like a "business", and the owners were not "business" people.

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  9. I also wondered why it took them 12 years to figure out she was stealing. This is not a defense of her theft, but this is what you get when you are an absent owner, giving an employee the sole responsibility of running a business for inadequate pay. I agree with 7:32, here in Smallsbury, most business owners pay crap, while you are doing the job of 2 people barely living above poverty and act as tho they are your god and savior. They act like saints because they gave her time off for a family illness and death. There are just as many bad employers here, it is not always a bad employee. The story is rather sobby for only $5000 in restitution. If that was all you gave for raises over a 12 year period that would explain a lot.
    I don't believe in airing your dirty laundry publically.
    Looks like a lot of participants contributed to this issue.

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  10. What a bottom feeder you are
    7:32! Stealing is stealing period! What's obvious by your statement is you yourself had low class scum for parents otherwise you would know right from wrong.
    What's sad it no doubt you've reproduced spawn who will inherit your low class traits!

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  11. I can't stress the importance of internal controls enough.

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  12. I'm sorry for your loss of trust in a what seemed to be a long time, trusted employee. Unfortunately, the more trust you gave her the more nerve she got to steal from you. Too bad people, with the trust of their employer, don't have more integrity. There's been too many cases of this lately. I know of one man who nearly lost his livelihood because of a deceptive secretary & accounting clerk.

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  13. In our current society all business owners must put in controls to protect themselves. No one person should be given that kind of access regardless of the level of perceived trust. Hope things will run smoothly now that a hard lesson was learned. Karma should take care of the lovely Ms. Crystal.

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  14. I agree a business needs two on the property. A manager needs to deal with the public, problems, handles merchant and inventory, etc anyway so the employee can take care of the customers.Chances are just one employee will steal, will give favors to their buddies and will display a you owe it all to me me attitude.

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  15. She will never be sorry for anything she does or is doing because Daddy keeps making it okay for her. I say any parent that condones this is part of the problem = though for her he seems to be the answer. I had a couple rounds with her myself in there and her attire on most days was disgusting! DADDY you need your head examined to come to her aid. She is an adult and should have had to pay for her own mistakes. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

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  16. I really don't understand some of these comments like the first two? Sounds like her job was gravy, I would LOVE to have one like hers! But nope, in the beginning of the year I got all my paid vacation, sick, personal time cut along with my hours! All due to my "local" greedy boss! I've seen the numbers and money is rolling through my place of employment yet greed greed greed. I'd love a job like this criminal had and took advantage of! Sheesh.

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