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The theft, by a 19-year-old who worked at a Kroger in Duluth, Ga., occurred over two weeks when a supermarket compliance officer was away, the authorities said.

A teenage employee stole nearly $1 million from a Kroger supermarket in the metro Atlanta area and then went on a shopping spree for guns, shoes and cars, including a Chevrolet Camaro that he totaled, the authorities said on Thursday.

The employee, Tre Brown, 19, obtained more than 40 refunds on several credit cards for merchandise that he falsely claimed had been returned to a Kroger in Duluth, Ga., the police in Gwinnett County said.

The transactions ranged in value from $75 to more than $87,000, according to the police, who said that the fraud scheme was carried out over two weeks in December and January while a supermarket compliance officer was away.

The fraud was later detected by corporate employees of Kroger, who the police said had contacted them. A large sum of the money was returned after Mr. Brown’s arrest on Jan. 14 on a felony charge of theft by taking, the police said. They said they had no further information on the amount recovered.