with one's hand in the cookie jar

• Note: These entries are full verb phrases with the verb "catch".
• catch someone in the cookie jar, catch somone raiding the cookie jar, catch someone with one's fingers in the cookie jar, catch someone with the cookie jar.
• catch someone with one's hand in the till, catch someone with one's hand in the cookie jar

with one's hand in the cookie jar

1. (idiomatic) While committing a theft, especially while embezzling money.
   • 1969, "Insurance Man Accused in Theft of $400,000," Los Angeles Times, 13 Dec., p. A10:

     A Long Beach insurance broker, who admittedly got caught with his "hand in the cookie jar", has been accused of the theft of $400,000 from the Bank of America.

   • 1989, Claudia Deutsch, "Passing Sentence Before A Trial," New York Times, 19 Feb. (retrieved 24 May 2009):

     Any crisis, whether it is a plant explosion or an executive caught with his hand in the cookie jar, takes on a life of its own.

   • 2007, "The competition was fierce, and the judging a fraught affair," The Times (South Africa), 31 Dec. (retrieved 24 May 2009):

     Frankenmanto was, in fact, a certified kleptomaniac who had to carry a doctor’s letter on her to explain the embarrassing little moments when she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

Nearly always used with "catch".

• in flagrante delicto