Simon Cremer manages a carpet fitting business in England.

He suspected a contractor, Mark Gilbert, of stealing a company check and cashing it for 845 pounds (about $1,460 U.S. dollars).

Suggested solution: Gather evidence and call police.

What Cremer did: He marched Gilbert through the streets of Witham with his hands bound behind his back and a sign with “Thief, I stole 845 pounds, on my way to police station,” on it. He even invited along the local newspaper. You can see a picture of the spectacle online.

To Cremer’s surprise, when he got to the station, police arrested him on suspicion of false imprisonment, assault and theft. He was put in a cell for the night, too.

Gilbert was also arrested on suspicion of theft.

Both men were released.

Now, Gilbert is suing Cremer. He claims he was beaten up and threatened with tools by Cremer and three other workers.

In an interview with The Daily Mail, Cremer explained the business pressures he’s feeling these days. “I’m a small businessman, struggling to survive the credit crunch, sometimes working 20-hour days to make a living, and I need to be able to trust the sub-contractors I employ.”

This story has been getting a great deal of play in the British media. Citizens are lining up on both sides, some saying they don’t blame Cremer for taking the law into his own hands.

A factor that has, perhaps, added to some people’s positive thoughts about what Cremer did: He’s also told the British media that earlier this year his wife was battling breast cancer.

On Nov. 27, Cremer will learn if he’s to be charged. 

But we’ll forgive you for chuckling when we tell you about the restaurant employee who tried to steal frozen  lobster tails by stuffing them down his pants.

OK, now that you’ve got that visual, here are the details. The Brooklyn, NY, district attorney’s office said Raymundo Flores has been arraigned on misdemeanor charges of petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.

The cook at Junior’s Restaurant also tried to get away with the crustacean tails by taping them in bandages on his legs, according to the New York Post.

Flores is free without bail.

The Post wonders if Flores wasn’t actually stealing the lobster tails — maybe he was just trying to beat the heat.

A highlighter goes into a pocket. Some sticky-note pads find their way into a briefcase. As long as employee theft is small and infrequent, many companies may not even notice that certain items are leaving the supply closet more quickly.

So if this incident took place as reported, it apparently took some skill for Carlos Trinidad of Vineland, NJ, to almost get away with stealing hundreds of dollars worth of ribs and prime beef from his employer, Texas Roadhouse.

Trinidad allegedly took the meat out of a freezer and hid it in back of the restaurant near the trash bins.

Someone tipped off the restaurant manager who found the beef and called the police.

Trinidad turned himself in. Police arrested him, and the restaurant fired him.

There’s no word on whether Trinidad had a childhood fascination with the Hamburglar.

(Has your company ever caught an employee ”borrowing” something out of the ordinary? Drop HR Blunders a few lines about it below in the Comment box.)

Sometimes employees boost each others’ morale by participating in their own fun workplace activities. March Madness pools are an example, as are collective lottery pools.

But an employee at a Missouri company took some of the fun out of winning the lottery for his co-workers when he allegedly cashed the winning check for $10,000 and kept the money for himself.

Curtis Devore faces charges of felony theft and five years in prison, according to KSDK-TV.

A supervisor noticed Devore had altered a spreadsheet that contained the winning lottery numbers. Shortly after that, Devore cashed in a winning ticket for $10,000.

The money was recovered and will be spread evenly among the participating employees.

Devore was taken into custody. A judge set bond at $100,000. And how’s this on a sense of fair play by the judge: To be released, Devore would have to post 10% of the bond, $10,000 – that’s right, the same amount of money he’s accused of stealing.

What items at work might employees want to steal? For the small-time thief, it’s probably office supplies. For the more ambitious, it’s cash or maybe mechandise that the company produces or sells. Stuff like electronics, expensive clothes or jewelry.

But, as they say, to each their own: Police in Midland, Michigan, have arrested a man for stealing 217 cases of Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix.

The stuff – er, stuffing – went missing from a storage trailer, according to wire service reports.

Police say distributors in the area have access to the trailer, and the suspect worked for a distributor.

So far, authorities have recovered 157 cases of the stuffing.

That leaves 60 cases unaccounted for. We’d hate to see the size of this guy’s turkey last Thanksgiving.