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By Ed Meyer
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 12:42 p.m. EDT, Jul 30, 2009
She was a trusted employee for many years with one of Akron's top real estate development companies.
But that was before a huge sum of money — $1.78 million — could not be accounted for in an internal audit of the books of Cedarwood Development Inc., a Merriman Road firm with retail, office and residential projects throughout the United States, Akron police said.
Karin A. Goeldi, executive assistant to Cedarwood President Anthony A. ''Tony'' Petrarca, was being held Thursday night in the Summit County Jail while terms of a $250,000 signature bond were being prepared, her attorney said.
Goeldi, 43, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly embezzling $1.78 million in funds from Petrarca's personal account during an eight-year period between 2001 and July 13, Akron Police Lt. Rick Edwards, the department's spokesman, said.
''She was an authorized signer on the victim's personal checking account, and she wrote a multitude of checks either to cash or to herself,'' Edwards said.
Goeldi, who gave investigators an apartment address in the 1200 block of Weathervane Lane in Akron's Merriman Valley, according to police records, is charged with one count of aggravated theft.
The charge is a first-degree felony carrying a potential penalty of three to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $20,000.
Police Lt. Brian Oldaker, commander of the department's property and financial crimes unit, said an investigation into Goeldi's activities in her job with Cedarwood is continuing and more charges are possible.
Brian M. Pierce, Goeldi's attorney, declined to comment on any details of the police investigation, saying he was in the process of reviewing the alleged evidence.
Pierce did say Goeldi would be held at the county jail through Thursday night while work continued on the details of the signature bond. Goeldi and her father are required to sign the release papers, and she must surrender her passport, Pierce said.
He declined further comment at this stage of the investigation. Cedarwood, with office headquarters in Akron at 1765 Merriman Road, was the developer of Eagle Chase condominiums off Smith Road and the Heron Springs upscale apartments in Stow, according to the company's Web site.
The firm also has offices in Fort Lauderdale and Houston, in addition to other retail and residential developments in Tampa; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Houston; and Stroudsburg, Pa.
Petrarca and the firm's chief legal counsel, Alan W. Sponseller, did not return messages seeking comment on the police investigation.
Oldaker said the investigation began after the company conducted an internal audit and filed a police report at a meeting with investigators on July 13.
Petrarca, according to the police report, told investigators that Goeldi was employed by the business, wrote checks to ''cash'' and took more money from transactions ''for personal gain.''
There were no additional details in the police report regarding allegations about Goeldi's activities with the firm. Citing the continuing investigation, Oldaker declined to comment further about details of the case.
But the lieutenant did address questions about how the alleged embezzlement could have occurred over such a long period without being detected much earlier.
The sums of money allegedly embezzled by Goeldi, Oldaker said, ''were not large amounts. It was a frequent, systematic embezzlement of funds over a long period of time — not the kind you would notice.
That's how these things happen,'' he said. Goeldi was in a trusted position, and with that trust, Oldaker said, ''she was given authority over a personal account.
This is a very large corporation, so you're talking about very large developments throughout the United States.
''Whenever you have a lot of money being turned over in an organization, there's that opportunity,'' Oldaker said. Goeldi, according to her Facebook account, was a 1989 graduate of the University of Akron.
Pierce declined to comment on additional personal details.
Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com. David Knox assisted with this report.
She was a trusted employee for many years with one of Akron's top real estate development companies.
But that was before a huge sum of money — $1.78 million — could not be accounted for in an internal audit of the books of Cedarwood Development Inc., a Merriman Road firm with retail, office and residential projects throughout the United States, Akron police said.
Karin A. Goeldi, executive assistant to Cedarwood President Anthony A. ''Tony'' Petrarca, was being held Thursday night in the Summit County Jail while terms of a $250,000 signature bond were being prepared, her attorney said.
Goeldi, 43, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly embezzling $1.78 million in funds from Petrarca's personal account during an eight-year period between 2001 and July 13, Akron Police Lt. Rick Edwards, the department's spokesman, said.
''She was an authorized signer on the victim's personal checking account, and she wrote a multitude of checks either to cash or to herself,'' Edwards said.
Goeldi, who gave investigators an apartment address in the 1200 block of Weathervane Lane in Akron's Merriman Valley, according to police records, is charged with one count of aggravated theft.
The charge is a first-degree felony carrying a potential penalty of three to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $20,000.
Police Lt. Brian Oldaker, commander of the department's property and financial crimes unit, said an investigation into Goeldi's activities in her job with Cedarwood is continuing and more charges are possible.
Brian M. Pierce, Goeldi's attorney, declined to comment on any details of the police investigation, saying he was in the process of reviewing the alleged evidence.
Pierce did say Goeldi would be held at the county jail through Thursday night while work continued on the details of the signature bond. Goeldi and her father are required to sign the release papers, and she must surrender her passport, Pierce said.
He declined further comment at this stage of the investigation. Cedarwood, with office headquarters in Akron at 1765 Merriman Road, was the developer of Eagle Chase condominiums off Smith Road and the Heron Springs upscale apartments in Stow, according to the company's Web site.
The firm also has offices in Fort Lauderdale and Houston, in addition to other retail and residential developments in Tampa; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Houston; and Stroudsburg, Pa.
Petrarca and the firm's chief legal counsel, Alan W. Sponseller, did not return messages seeking comment on the police investigation.
Oldaker said the investigation began after the company conducted an internal audit and filed a police report at a meeting with investigators on July 13.
Petrarca, according to the police report, told investigators that Goeldi was employed by the business, wrote checks to ''cash'' and took more money from transactions ''for personal gain.''
There were no additional details in the police report regarding allegations about Goeldi's activities with the firm. Citing the continuing investigation, Oldaker declined to comment further about details of the case.
But the lieutenant did address questions about how the alleged embezzlement could have occurred over such a long period without being detected much earlier.
The sums of money allegedly embezzled by Goeldi, Oldaker said, ''were not large amounts. It was a frequent, systematic embezzlement of funds over a long period of time — not the kind you would notice.
That's how these things happen,'' he said. Goeldi was in a trusted position, and with that trust, Oldaker said, ''she was given authority over a personal account.
This is a very large corporation, so you're talking about very large developments throughout the United States.
''Whenever you have a lot of money being turned over in an organization, there's that opportunity,'' Oldaker said. Goeldi, according to her Facebook account, was a 1989 graduate of the University of Akron.
Pierce declined to comment on additional personal details.
Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com. David Knox assisted with this report.
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