Pizzaguy - I have fired quite a few people (and suppliers for that matter). It pretty much always sucks. In retrospect, it all looks better, and on paper(or forums) advise like this is easy to give out. We aren’t in your shoes looking at some poor kid who has family problems that led him to steal/cheat/lie to you.
Looking back over the years though I can say for sure that my biggest problems didn’t some from the people I fired. They come from the ones I should have fired, but didn’t.