TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Police Department said a 47-year-old woman is facing numerous felony charges for stealing more than $70,000 from Alessi Bakery in Tampa.
Rosa Harwell is facing 51 felony counts, including False Entry in Books of Business Entity and one felony count of Grand Theft of the Second Degree.
Philip Alessi, President and CEO, said they discovered the fraud by chance while searching for a customer's invoice.
"Honestly, it was by accident. When I say that, we’re looking for an invoice for a customer that was misplaced," said Alessi.
"The night manager was going through trying to find the invoices and she was looking through our POS system, she noticed some negative numbers."
Tampa Police said between March 2020 and February 2025, more than 500 fraudulent negative transactions were identified.
Alessi said security cameras captured the fraudulent activity.
"She would do the checkout, so she would look at the daily deposits as far as the POS stated, and she was basically altering the numbers through the system by doing these negative numbers. It was very consistent throughout of how she did it," said Alessi.
On February 16, 2025, detectives spoke with Harwell, who stated she had tutored the owner's son several years ago and was told she would be reimbursed for lowering her tutoring costs by receiving an increase in pay at the bakery.
Harwell claimed that the direct deposits never reflected the raise so she began to pay herself from the register. She also admitted to the detective that self-payments began four to five years ago, according to the Tampa Police Department.
"That’s what kind of really upset me the most because we treat everybody like family. All our associates are like family. We have three people that are still working with us that are 50 plus years."
"We have a lot of long-tenure people, so when we hire, they become family, and it was really disheartening," said Alessi.
Police said Harwell turned herself into Orient Road Jail. She has since posted bond.
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