Fraud and Embezzlement Investigations

“The only employees that will steal from you are the ones you trust, because you never give anyone else the chance. So, the best way to protect against embezzlement is to make it difficult to accomplish without detection.” John Pico

Robert C. Sexton, BA was the Agent-in-Charge of Investigations for the Colorado Bureau of Investigations. As such, his duties included the supervision of major crime investigations to include computer fraud, securities fraud, white-collar crime, violations of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, money laundering and internal investigations.

He also served as Chief Investigator for the Attorney General’s office where his investigations included violations of the Organized Crime Control Act, both civil and criminal.

He supervised the investigation of felony offenses at the request of the Governor, District Attorney’s offices, local chiefs of police and sheriffs’ departments in conjunction with performing organized crime oversight.

Mr. Sexton was:

A Member of the Colorado Integrated Criminal Justice Information Systems Board of Directors

An investigator for District, State and Federal Grand Juries

Qualified as an expert in state court

Director of Investigations and Security for the Colorado Lottery.

Academically, Mr. Sexton has had over 2,000 hours of special training including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Session 126, and numerous courses pertaining to white collar crime and criminal investigations

When fraudulent activity is suspected Mr. Sexton can:

       Review areas of concern to determine a reasonable course of action.

       Conduct a preliminary investigation into any suspected illegal activity to help determine a course of action.

       Review dealership activity for areas susceptible to fraud and recommend security measures to ensure the proper checks and balances are in place.

       Review dealership records of purchases or sales for any inflation or misrepresentations.

       Offer anonymity to our sources and rewards for information that results in exposing fraud or misrepresentations or any activity counterproductive to the operation of the dealership or lending institutions.

       Conduct background investigations on key employees and managers.

       Help detect improper activity concerning vehicle trades and sales.

What is happening in the dealership world?

       Comptroller devised elaborate scheme of removing checks and cash from the company’s deposits, nearly forcing dealership into bankruptcy.

       $200,000 embezzled through manipulation of bank deposits and personal insurance policy payments then falsifying deposit slips to reflect the amounts after her embezzlement.

       Region’s largest chain of car dealerships lost over $500,000 to embezzlement scheme led by three longtime employees over 3-year period.

       Supervisor at Mercedes-Benz dealership plead guilty to embezzling $1,053,970 over 3-years.

       General Manager of Toyota store accused of embezzling more than $600,000.

       Comptroller arrested for embezzling over $400,000 from dealership over 3-year period by taking cash; giving herself payroll advances that weren’t paid back; receiving excessive bonuses; transferring money from dealership’s account into her personal account by using dealership’s checking account to make payments on her personal accounts; and issuing unauthorized checks to herself.

Embezzlement is not a common law crime but depends on statutory enactment.

The definition of embezzlement and any associated punishment varies according to the statute of that jurisdiction

Portions of the embezzlement statutes for the states of California and Texas illustrate some of the differences.

Once again, “the only people that will embezzle from you are the ones you trust because you never give anyone else the chance.” That is why the dealer that thinks he or she is safe is the dealer that gets taken.

If you want to be safer, give us a call. If you think you have a problem, give us a call. Don’t let circumstances direct you. You direct the circumstances.

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