New York Man Gets Probation For Fraud

By Justin Muszynski, The Bristol Press

July 18, 2022

A New York man who defrauded a Southington business out of more than $70,000 has been sentenced to probation.

Charles Allen, 38, avoided prison time through a plea deal that included five years of probation. During the probationary period, his exposure should he violate any conditions is a maximum of 10 years behind bars.

The deal Allen took required him to plead guilty to one felony count of second-degree larceny. He had originally faces charges of first-degree larceny, credit card fraud, receiving goods with a stolen credit card and first-degree failure to appear, but those charges were not pursued under the terms of the deal.

According to police, Allen used a company credit card when he worked as the human resources manager at Winterberry Gardens -- a landscape and garden center in Southington -- to defraud the business out of tens of thousands of dollars. Police said search warrants for Allen’s personal checking accounts showed a total of 28 deposits made using SquareUp -- a popular payment app -- totaling $74,574.

According to police, Winterberry in September 2019 reported the fraudulent activity to police after discovering about $78,000 worth of unauthorized charges between October 2017 and June 2019.

“Two separate bank accounts with Allen’s name also clearly showed that Allen was making fraudulent credit card transactions with the company credit cards and depositing money into his personal account,” Southington Lt. Keith Egan said when Allen was charged.

Among other fraudulent purchases and fake invoices, police said, Winterberry reported that Allen made fraudulent invoices for an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) training course in the amount of $3,000.

The company told police Allen had resigned from his position.

In September 2020, police in White Plains, N.Y., where Allen lives, took him into custody in the parking lot of his residence on a warrant charging him as a fugitive from justice. He was subsequently charged by Southington police.

After being released on $10,000 bond, Allen failed to appear in New Britain Superior Court on March 16, 2021, according to judicial records. He was then re-arrested.

Justin Muszynski can be reached at 860-973-1809 or jmuszynski@bristolpress.com.