Worker stole $450,000 in silver to feed gambling habit
Jaydn John-Sessing, 31, stole more than 4,500 pounds of silver over a period of nearly three years to feed a gambling addiction, said St. Paul police Sgt. Ken Jensen, one of two police investigators who broke the case. Sessing has been charged with seven counts of felony theft. On Jan. 17, a manager at Cooperative Plating called police to say the business was missing 28 pounds of silver-plating material, a criminal complaint said. On March 4, police went back to the business when management reported a burglary. Almost 140 pounds of silver was missing, and a door-locking rod to a secure locker had been cut, the complaint said. Police determined that Sessing, an employee, had stolen the silver because there was no evidence of a break-in to the building. “This was a very organized theft process,” Jensen said. Sessing eventually confessed to taking the silver, a criminal complaint states. He said he would steal an ounce or two at a time over the three-year period, which went unnoticed, Jensen said. The bigger thefts occurred because the company was putting in a new security system that would have made the thefts more difficult, Jensen said. Police said they believe Sessing had a gambling addiction, losing almost a million dollars at casinos during those three years. 
Sessing would take the stolen silver to the West St. Paul Silver Gold Exchange, where he would get 80 percent of the value, Jensen said. An employee at the pawnshop said Sessing came in three times a month to sell silver. He was paid $30, 800 from January through March of this year.