BUTLER TWP — A one-time tiptop employee was arrested this week on charges he stole about $8,300 from an office supply store in the township.

Township police said Michael James O’Neil employed a fraudulent refund scheme beginning in March to steal the money from the Staples at Moraine Pointe Plaza where he was an assistant manager.

O’Neil, 26, of Butler Township was arraigned Wednesday on a felony count of theft by deception. He is free on his own recognizance while awaiting a preliminary hearing Jan. 30.

A store audit in September linked him to a number of improper refund transactions, according to township police Det. Sgt. Nathan Teslik said.

Staples officials confronted O’Neil, who provided a written statement admitting wrongdoing, Teslik said.

The finding apparently surprised fellow employees at the store where O’Neil worked for about four years.

“He was considered a stellar employee,” Teslik said of O’Neil. “He was on the fast track to bigger things there.”

Investigators suspect O’Neil made fictitious refunds of merchandise that never existed at the store.

“I don’t know how he came up with this scheme,” Teslik said. “But he’s an intelligent guy.”

O’Neil allegedly did the same thing at Staples stores in Clarion and eastern Ohio where he would fill in at times.

Police believe he pocketed the money, but on at least one occasion, he placed the money on a store gift card.

Teslik said O’Neil refused a police interview, and instead invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. His attorney, Michael Lazaroff, declined to comment.