Silent partner

I guess you could call it reverse embezzlement.

A guy in New Jersey drew a paycheck for five years from a company he never worked for.

Sounds hard to believe, but apparently one Anthony Armatys, 35, of Palatine, Ill., benefited from some very sloppy bookkeeping.

Seems he was temporarily hired by a telecommunications company in the Garden State in 2002. But then he changed his mind and quit.

However, the company computer had his name in the system, so being a dumb computer, it kept sending paychecks to his bank account. To the tune of $470,000 over the years!

Sort of direct deposit-plus. Ca-ching!

Incredibly, the scheme went on for five years until “auditors” at the company wised up. I put “auditors” in quotation marks there because it took them five years to figure out they were paying a guy who never showed up. (And you thought some folks at your job were bad.)

If I was head of this company, I’d be too embarrassed to admit that I let something that dumb go on for that long.

And was it right that Absentee Andy had to plead guilty to one count of theft as part of a plea bargain?

He had a sweet deal drop into his lap, and all he said was nothin’.

At least they should have let him keep part of the loot.

For all anyone knew, he was a “consultant.”