A former employee of US firm Fried Frank has been charged with stealing over $367,000 worth of printer ink from the firm over a two year period.

Adrian Rodriguez, who was based in the firm's New York office, has been indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney's office on two counts of second degree larceny, according to an AmLaw report. Rodriguez was a member of the department and is accused of taking his job rather too literally. Allegedly he ordered far more toner than the office needed in order to take advantage of New York's seedy underbelly of stationery-based crime, selling the extra ink for $10 a box (or $15 for the coloured stuff) on the black market.

A stationery 're-up' yesterday

 
The alleged crimes took place for over two years, between October 2010 until December 2012, before anything was spotted by Fried Frank.

But Rodriguez isn't the only law firm employee to get into hot water over alleged back office scams. David Tresch, former chief information officer for Mayer Borwn, has been indicted after he allegedly funnelled $5m out of the firm through a series of fake invoices and kickbacks from office suppliers. More than $225k has already been seized from Tresch along with a camping trailer, a van and a luxury car.

It's just like The Wire, only with printer cartridges not crack.