Ex-store manager charged in shoe theft

SALT LAKE CITY — A former shoe store manager has been charged with stealing and selling more than $65,000 worth of shoes.

The 50-year-old Centerville man took the shoes from a Red Wing Shoes branch in Taylorsville, selling large quantities of shoes to a half-dozen people over the past five years, according to charges filed Friday in Salt Lake's 3rd District Court.

Many of the shoes were sold to a father and son, who then peddled the products on the Internet.

The man would deposit the money into a personal account or a fraudulent Red Wing Shoes account if the checks were made out to the store, according to the charges.

A Red Wings Shoes audit revealed missing inventory from the Taylorsville branch totaled more than $206,000 in recent years, court documents state.

The man has been charged with one count of theft, a second-degree felony.

— Aaron Falk