Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that a former salesman has been ordered as part of his guilty plea to pay restitution of nearly $280,000 he stole from a Great Neck business.
Thomas Holt, 66, pleaded guilty today to Grand Larceny in the 2nd Degree (a C felony) before Nassau County Court Judge Anthony Paradiso. Judge Paradiso also ordered a civil judgment of $279,794.15 in favor of the employer, and ordered Holt held on remand. Holt is due back in court for sentencing on Jan. 23.
“After the victim’s referral and a year-long investigation by my office, a person who should have been a role model for younger employees has now become a sad example of the consequences of criminal activity,” DA Rice said.
DA Rice said Holt was employed for the last 20 years at an interior design and supply firm located in Great Neck, where his job was to take orders and payments from walk-in customers. Starting in 2008, he told dozens of customers that he could provide them with a discount, provided they paid him directly with a check made out to cash. He then delivered the merchandise ordered by those customers from the inventory of the store, but did not forward the checks to his employer. Rather, he deposited them in his own personal checking account. The scheme lasted until 2012. Holt was fired by the company in October 2012.
The scheme was discovered during a routine review of the company’s financial records, which showed that payments on invoices had not been credited to the company’s accounts. After speaking with customers who gave payment directly to Holt, the company referred the case in March 2013 to DA Rice’s office for investigation. DA investigators arrested Holt in March.
Assistant District Attorney Edward Bradley of DA Rice’s Government and Consumer Frauds Bureau is prosecuting the case. Holt is represented by Frank Doddado, Esq.