A new documentary to be released on Wednesday tells the story of the scandal that rocked the family-run Collin Street bakery in Corsicana, a maker of fruit cakes that are shipped around the world.
Fruitcake Fraud Streaming on Discovery Plus describes an embezzlement scheme that went on for nearly a decade. During that time, the bakery’s accountant stole nearly $ 17 million to give him and his wife a luxurious lifestyle.
“This couple, Sandy and Kay, wanted to be social, and to be part of the community, and they made an effort,” said Hayden Crawford, vice president of public relations and customer service and partner of the bakery. “And it came as a surprise to everyone when this came out that these people actually embezzled for years. So all of this is brought to light on this show and people are going to see things they haven’t seen or heard before.”
The documentary features Bob McNutt, CEO and President, telling viewers, “What Dom Perignon is to champagne, Collin Street Bakery is to fruitcakes.”
The woman who discovered the crime, Semetric Walker, is interviewed. She had barely been an accountant for a year when she carried her suspicions to higher positions. She is now the bakery’s controller.
“This whole thing was unusual and under the cloak of darkness, as they say, and it was all such a mystery,” said Crawford. “We wanted to get our side of the story out. So we let her (the documentary crew) in. They interviewed us extensively. We gave them access to all the pictures and photos we had and all the videos we had. We let them roam the entire property and gave them full access. And the hope was that when the story came out, people would see our side of the story, that it was much more complex and much more difficult to uncover than people thought. “
A 2015 US Attorney’s press release describes the crime:
“According to records filed in the case and evidence presented at the judgment hearing, which began at least December 2004 and lasted until he was fired from the bakery, Sandy Jenkins carried out a massive fraud scheme for the bakery. He embezzled more than $ 16 million from the bakery, and he and his wife, Kay Jenkins, used that money to fund a lavish lifestyle in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Aspen, Colorado and Napa, Calif.), At a total cost of over 3, $ 3 million.
The government also revealed during the conviction that the Jenkins bought 38 vehicles during the program, including many Lexus automobiles, a Mercedes Benz, a Bentley and a Porsche. According to evidence presented at the conviction, Sandy Jenkins and Kay Jenkins bought a new car every time they needed an oil change. The government also found in the conviction that the Jenkins spent over $ 11 million on a Black American Express card alone – about $ 98,000 a month over the course of the program – on a couple who went through the bakery had legitimate income of approximately $ 50,000 a year. Evidence at the conviction also revealed that a significant portion of the stolen funds (approximately $ 1.2 million) were spent at Neiman Marcus in Northpark, Dallas, where Sandy Jenkins and Kay Jenkins are nicknamed “Fruitcake” and ” Cupcake ”. The government also presented evidence at the conviction that the Jenkins stopped buying from Neiman Marcus when Neiman ran out of things to sell. “
Sandy Jenkins was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison and died behind bars in 2019. His wife Kay was sentenced to five years probation, 100 hours of community service and an apology to the bakery.
“We don’t like to be reminded of this terrible time that lasted a decade, but we love to get the chance to tell it from our point of view,” said Crawford. “A lot of people like to think that it would never happen to them, that they wouldn’t have been surprised as we were. And I claim that it always will. It’s the trust that allows them to come in.” and suppressed. “
Eight years after the crime became known, Collin Street Bakery is still doing fine. The company, which was running its accounting department in trust, believing it didn’t need security, made changes.
“We have all the accounting mechanisms in place to protect you from such things in the future. We just never had to do this in the past, so we didn’t even know that this was an Achilles heel of ours.” “Said Crawford.
Dallas law firm Haynes and Boone, LLP announced on its website that partner Nick Bunch, who previously worked for the US Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Texas in Dallas for 11 years, was the lead prosecutor on the case. Nick said the case offers some good lessons for businesses, especially small or medium-sized businesses, that may not have sufficient controls and balances to quickly identify embezzlement.
“Companies, for example, need to put in place procedures to keep track of their bank accounts and make sure that not one person has sole authority to cut checks,” Bunch said in a press release. “Companies need to regularly review their accounting practices and have a game plan to quickly report a fraud if it is discovered – and to preserve assets.”
And 125 years after its founding, the oldest fruit cake mail order company based in the USA and the home of the world-famous DeLuxe® fruit cake is as popular as ever. However, supply chain issues will keep the bakery from making the apricot and pecan cake this year.
“Apricots are dried up,” said Crawford. “We didn’t get any for months and had to remove this product from our range.”
Nevertheless, on this holiday, families all over the world will serve the fruit cakes baked according to the recipe of the old world, which were brought to Corsicana by master baker Gus Weidmann from Wiesbaden in 1896.
“It’s a better year than last year,” said Crawford. “And last year with this weird pandemic, being a mail order business, we saw growth during that pandemic. We actually saw more sales last year than in previous years thanks to the mail order portion of our business, we’re about 10% up on last year. Hence, we’re looking at great things happening for Collin Street. Fruit cake, somehow love or hate it, and we see that fruit cake in particular comes with a lot of love. “
Fruitcake Fraud premieres on Discovery Plus Wednesday December 1st. Check out the trailer here.
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Documentary Tells Story of Fraud at North Texas Fruitcake Bakery
