Tualatin man Ricky Alan Dralle and his wife, Deborah Radcliff-Dralle, both were sentenced to prison last week for their roles in bilking Rite-Aid out of over $400,000 over a nine-year period.
Formerly the fleet manager at Rite-Aid's regional distribution center in Wilsonville, Dralle, 57, was given six
years, while Radcliff-Dralle, 54, was sentenced to four years, nine months behind bars by Clackamas County Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey S. Jones. Both were convicted in October of 11 counts of aggravated theft in the first degree.
Since being hired by Rite-Aid in the late 1980s, Dralle helped maintain the trailers that hauled goods from Rite-Aid’s WestCoast warehouses in Wilsonville to hundreds of stores.
According to court testimony, the scam began in 1999, about two years after the couple married. Dralle and his wife set up dummy companies they used to bill Rite-Aid for more than $400,000 worth of goods that never ended up being delivered. The ruse was uncovered in April 2008, after Rite-Aid discovered Dralle was stealing tires. A subsequent investigation uncovered invoices to the the shell companies.
Radcliff-Dralle wrote checks drawn on her company accounts to Macys, Nordstrom, Pottery Barn and Pier 1 Imports. The illegal income helped buy the couple an $829,000 home in Tualatin along with exotic automobiles.
Radcliff-Dralle, a former interior decorator, knew how to set up a business and headed the investigation, investigators said.
The Dralle’s attorneys urged lesser sentences, noting the couple sold their home, has paid around $158,000 in restitution to Rite-Aid and both suffer from various health problems.