Vincent Daniel Gillman, 51, of Pine Cove, was arrested Thursday, June 14, by Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies on felony charges of suspicion of violation of Penal Code sections on embezzlement and second-degree burglary.

Penal Code section 503 defines embezzlement as “the fraudulent appropriation of property by a person to whom it has been intrusted (sic),” and Penal Code section 508 provides: “Every clerk, agent, or servant of any person who fraudulently appropriates to his own use … any property of another which has come into his control or care by virtue of his employment as such clerk, agent, or servant, is guilty of embezzlement.”

Penal Code sections 459 and 460 define second-degree burglary as the entering of a building that is not a dwelling place with the intention of committing a felony or petit larceny therein.

An investigation conducted by the sheriff’s Hemet Station Investigation Bureau indicated that Gillman, an attendant at Pine Cove Market in the community of Pine Cove, only a few miles from Idyllwild, had been routinely stealing cash totaling more than $100,000 from the market’s register and ATM machine over what is believed to have been an eight-month period.

Lt. Zachary Hall, of the sheriff’s Hemet Station, advised that the embezzlement also involved Mountain Center Market, which is owned by the same company that owns Pine Cove Market. At this time, there is no indication that goods other than cash were embezzled, and it is believed that most of the cash was spent. It is further believed that Gillman had no accomplices.

On Friday, June 15, Gillman was booked into the Larry Smith Correctional Facility in Banning. He was scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday, June 19 on one count of grand theft.

The manager of Pine Cove Market was not available for comment.

The Sheriff’s Department requests that if you have any information regarding this matter, contact the Hemet Station Investigation Bureau at 951-791-3400