Articles Posted in Theft Crimes

As the rest of us in the Boston area were experiencing the upcoming summer heat, a few individuals were feeling heat of another kind, courtesy of Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone.

District Attorney Leone announced last week that a Malden Treasury employee and nine others have been indicted for allegedly embezzling more than $518,000 in city property tax receipts.

Gia D., 27, of Georgetown (hereinafter the “Defendant”), was charged by a Middlesex grand jury on one count of larceny over $250 and a separate count of conspiracy to commit larceny.

The Defendant and a co-defendant, Alan V., 32 of Malden (hereinafter, “Co-Defendant One”), had been arrested last November. Since then, however, the investigation has continued and has now resulted in indictments for the Defendant, Co-Defendant 1 and 8 others in the same alleged conspiracy.

As they were indicted by a grand jury, these are felony charges.

According to District Attorney Leone, none of those indicted, other than the Defendant, are Malden city employees.

The alleged white collar conspiracy involved funds that kept in the Malden Treasury that had come from property owners who had overpaid their property taxes. In 2006, Malden began publishing the list of residents who had overpaid their taxes so that the overpayments could be reclaimed.

Of course, the whole idea was that the funds would be reclaimed by the people who had overpaid. According to the Commonwealth, however, the Defendant and company thought they had a better idea.
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Massachusetts white collar crimes are often investigated without the target of that investigation having any idea that they have come under scrutiny. There are a number of business-related crimes that are prosecuted all the time. Often, it is that Attorney General’s Office, rather than the District Attorney’s Office that performs these investigations and resulting prosecutions. Last Wednesday, one such prosecution came to an end. It involved an alleged embezzlement in Boston’s neighbor, Stoneham.

The matter was not simply prosecuted in the local district court, however. The AG’s Office indicted Patrice M., 51, of Somerville (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) and pursued the matter in Middlesex Superior Court.

The Defendant pleaded guilty to various crimes including False Entries in Corporate Books, Forgery, and Larceny over $250 by Continuous Scheme. The allegations of theft were brought by the Defendant’s former employer, for whom she had worked as the company’s senior accountant.

The Attorney General’s Office began its investigation after the matter was referred by the Defendant’s former employer. Investigators determined that while working as the senior accountant for the Stoneham-based non-profit organization, the Defendant stole $126,000 between June, 2001, through October, 2004. This was apparently done by stealing company checks and making them payable to herself, either by forging the signatures of authorized company officers or using a signature stamp, and then depositing the checks into her personal bank account. She then made false entries on the company’s financial records to conceal the theft.
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