Anthony accepted a job at New Jersey telemarketing company Avaya Inc. in September 2002 but decided at the last minute not to start working for the company.

Avaya went ahead and kept him on payroll anyway, and for the next several years it pumped a total of $470,000 into his bank account. The company finally caught onto the error in February 2007 and sued Anthony, who pleaded guilty, the AP reports.

Turns out Anthony’s free money came at quite a price. He’s pleaded guilty to one count of theft and prosecutors are recommending he pay the company back and serve six years in prison.

The takeaway here is that if you’re getting checks from a company you don’t work for, you’ll want to take care of the situation before it gets out of hand.

Man took pay from NJ company he never worked for [AP via San Francisco Chronicle]
(Photo: HCVIII)
(Thanks, Rhys!)

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