Oregon Department of Revenue employee Theodore Raymond Paulsen has been arrested and charged with Official Misconduct, two counts of Mail Theft, 1st Degree Theft, and Unlawful Possession Of Methamphetamine. Paulsen was caught allegedly forging money orders from a Klamath Falls marijuana shop, and cashing them for himself. Even though weed has been legalized in Oregon, the stores are still legally barred from getting official bank accounts, so they have to use money orders to pay their taxes and other official business.
“The payment due for December, we sent in January.” Notes (Ed) Medina. “We were notified about a month later that the payment wasn’t received.”
The Oregon Department of Revenue sent Medina a letter demanding payment.
Medina contacted postal inspectors, and police. “In the process, I had gotten copies of the money orders from Western Union, where I had purchased them – and so we had the names and addresses of the folks who cashed the money orders, obviously they had been altered.”
Thanks to Medina’s book keeping records, Salem Police were able to get a major break in the case.
The investigation into the incident is continuing.
Medina says Salem Police told him it appears there may have been other victims.
Bob Estabrook of the Oregon Department of Revenue has confirmed that an employee was arrested Tuesday.
Though, at first, it appeared as though law enforcement agencies weren’t very interested in the case.
Oregon Cannabis Connection adds:
“After multiple contacts with the Department of Revenue explaining the situation, and getting no help whatsoever, I contact multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Postmaster General, Oregon Department of Justice, Klamath Falls Police, Oregon State Police, Marion County Sheriff’s department, and Salem Police. Each of those agencies claimed it wasn’t their jurisdiction,” Medina explained. “I got the run around for two days straight. I explained that I had copies of all of the documents, including copies of the signer for the certified mail, and copies of the forged and cashed money orders.”
After The Salem Police told him that they could do nothing without a Klamath Falls Police report being filed, he convinced the Klamath Falls PD to file a report. Eventually they started to investigate, but Medina felt they were less than helpful about the theft.
“All in all, it felt as if all [the agencies] involved did not feel this was a priority, or something they wanted to deal with,” Medina said. “It was obvious that they all expected me to just drop it, but I persisted.”
He finally mailed all the documentation he had, including the mail receipt with Paulsen’s signature, and the money order documentation showing the deposits. Once they did finally investigate, they quickly moved to make the arrest within a few weeks.
“I emailed all of the copies I had to the Salem PD officer, and that was that,” Medina explained. “Several weeks later they contacted me to say an arrest had been made, and that it was an employee of the Oregon Department if Revenue.”
