Couple took $340K from employer, police say
A Butler County couple is accused of stealing more than $340,000 from their former employer in Jefferson Township.
State police said they charged Adam J. Lesseski, 35, of Sarver and his estranged wife, Kara L. Lesseski, 37, of Valencia in connection with the theft between January 2017 and March of this year at Concrete Coring Co.
Both defendants were arraigned Tuesday on a list of felony charges.
Adam Lesseski, the company's former vice president, is charged with 65 counts of forgery, one each of theft by unlawful taking and theft by deception and one count of conspiracy to commit each of the crimes of forgery, theft by unlawful taking and theft by deception.
Kara Lesseski, the company's former administrative assistant, faces one count each of theft by unlawful taking and theft by deception and one count of conspiracy to commit each of the crimes of forgery, theft by unlawful taking and theft by deception.
Preliminary hearings for the couple are scheduled for Feb. 12 at the office of District Judge Sue Haggerty in Saxonburg.
The defendants remain free on $350,000 unsecured bond each. As part of Adam Lesseski's bond condition, Haggerty ordered that he undergo weekly drug testing.
Adam Lesseski's attorney, Charles Hoebler of Carnegie, and Kara Lesseski's attorney, Anastasa Williams of Pittsburgh, accompanied their clients at the arraignments.
“Adam Lesseski committed no crime,” Hoebler said when contacted Wednesday. “His actions related to this matter were with the knowledge of, and at the direction of, the president of Concrete Coring Co., Larry Treadway.”
Williams, also contacted Wednesday, said she could not comment until she checked with her client. She subsequently did not call back.
A telephone call to Treadway was not immediately returned.
Court documents identified Kara Lesseski as Treadway's stepdaughter. In her role with the company, she was responsible, in part, for accounting, bookkeeping and payroll processing, while her husband ran many other aspects.
Police said the defendants were fired from the company after Treadway discovered financial problems and notified authorities.
Specifically, court documents said, Treadway learned of a lawsuit filed by Laborers' District Council of Western Pennsylvania alleging the company owed $645,500. That amount included $454,568 in unpaid fringe benefit contributions and wage deductions.
The owner's preliminary review of company books found that the defendants “initiated unauthorized payments to themselves,” according to the affidavit of Trooper Brian Palko, the lead criminal investigator.
Treadway subsequently hired an accounting firm to perform a forensic analysis. The firm found $262,810.48 in misappropriated company funds.
The mishandled funds, documents said, represented “duplicate payroll checks, extra payroll checks, unauthorized raises, unreimbursed employee advances, unauthorized bonuses, unreimbursed loans (and) unsupported reimbursements and payments to (the Lesseskis).”
The alleged misappropriated funds also included “payments made to Adam's personal credit card, unsupported expenses on (the company's) credit cards issued to Adam and Kara, personal rent and PayPal disbursements.”
Palko noted the investigation found the accounting history and details in the company's software for many transactions were altered or deleted “to further hide and conceal the activities of Adam and Kara.”
A review of Adam Lesseski's bank records for the period of January 2017 to March 2019 uncovered 21 checks made payable to Concrete Coring that were deposited into one of his accounts. Those checks totaled $20,648.88.
Additional checks “were created, printed and cashed for various employees and acquaintances of Adam and/or Kara,” the affidavit said. In all, 13 different names were used to produce bogus payroll or expense payments to those individuals.
“The checks,” police said, “were then forged and/or deposited into a PNC Bank account bearing the name of Adam J. Lesseski, which was utilized by Adam and Kara.”
The payments of those checks amounted to $59,337.55.
