Ex-Employee Accused of Stealing from Hearing Aid Business in Jonesboro

JONESBORO, Ark. — A man is accused of stealing thousands in payments from patients at a hearing aid business in Jonesboro.

The probable cause affidavit says on June 24, 2021, officers responded to Beltone, 1810 E. Highland Drive, in reference to a theft that had already occurred. Officers made contact with a woman who had been recently relocated here to train another employee after Charles Zachary James had been recently fired.

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Police were told James had been stealing cash payments from patients starting with the first transaction on June 9, 2021. A money order was supposed to be dropped off for a patient but never was.

The front desk clerk had a list of transactions for which the company never received money. One was on June 22, 2021, in which the patient gave James a $1,100 cash payment for which no money was ever turned in. The next was a patient who paid James $1,000 cash but was never turned in. Then, another incident occurred on Sept. 10, 2020, in which a patient paid James $1,000 cash in a home delivery that was never turned over to Beltone. On June 9, 2021, another patient made a cash payment of $2,800. James turned it in but it was given back to him to get a money order – which he never did and never turned back in, the affidavit said.

There were alternate occasions in which money was cashed and never turned in by James, but the exact amounts are unknown.

After he had been fired, James allegedly texted an employee saying, “I also at some point would like you to smuggle me a list of all the patients. There is no telling what they are going to tell them so I want to be able to tell them the truth.”

The store confirmed that $5,900 was stolen to date.

Charles Zachary James, 36, of Bells, Tennessee, was arrested on October 23, 2024, for theft, greater than $5,000 but less than $25,000. A $10,000 cash or surety bond was set on October 25 by Judge David Boling.

All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.