Con-Man Swipes Over $544k From Upstate New York Business
Employee theft costs businesses across the United States over $50 billion each year. When you are running a business in a small town in upstate New York, you may not expect to be effected by such theft. That is a wrong assumption.
Crime happens everywhere and people like Nicolas E. Argetsinger are waiting to find their next victim. New York State Troopers arrested Argetsinger on Wednesday, as a result of a fraud investigation.
According to a report by Rylee Kirk of syracuse.com, Nicholas E. Argetsinger, of Waterloo,NY, has an alias. The report said that the man is also known as Kirk B. Piersma, of Phoenix, Arizona. The alias was not the crime. Argetsinger somehow redirected $1.8 million from his employer in Geneva to his bank account. The scam enabled Argetsinger to grab over $544,000 over three years, according to a release by the New York State Troopers.
The discrepancy was noticed by the unidentified employer, who in turn began a fraud investigation. Troopers said that following the findings of the inquiry, Argetsinger was arrested and charged with first-degree scheme to defraud, three counts of second-degree grand larceny, and three counts of first-degree falsifying business records. This was not Argetsinger's first run in with the law. The report in syracuse.com said that previously, Argetsinger was working under the name Kirk B. Piersma as a licensed real estate broker in Arizona. In 2013, the State of Arizona ordered that Piersma's (Argetsinger's) license be revoked for violations of state real estate law. In 2011, the state had suspended his license for property management irregularities.
New York State Troopers arrested Nicholas E. Argetsinger in Waterloo. He was taken to Ontario County Jail for arraignment and will have a future court date in Geneva.