A Franklin man will spend six months on house arrest after pleading guilty in the theft of $35,000 from his former employer.
Mark A. Hoogeveen, 46, pleaded guilty to theft and delivery of a false sales document, both felony charges.
In addition to house arrest, he also was sentenced to a year on probation, 104 hours of community service and to pay $250 per month in restitution to Marshall Mechanical in Franklin. Hoogeveen and his attorney declined to comment.
In January 2017, the owner of the company told police Hoogeveen had worked for the heating and air conditioning company as the general manager and had created fake invoices to write checks to himself, according to court records. The owner had asked officers to be there while Hoogeveen was fired.
Hoogeveen told police he had worked for the company for more than two years and was authorized to write company checks for company business as part of his job as manager. He told police he would write checks to himself, cash them and then buy money orders, according to court records.
The checks ranged from $500 to $5,800. Investigators found that checks that were written to Hoogeveen were changed in the system to other vendors, including a company that Marshall Mechanical didn’t do business with, court records said. The vendor companies also told police the invoices kept on file at Marshall Mechanical did not match their paperwork. Surveillance footage from banks showed Hoogeveen cashing the checks, the records said.
A company that Hoogeveen did work for also reported to Marshall Mechanical that they had paid for the work in cash. That money was not recorded or deposited, according to court records.
Hoogeveen told police he needed the money to pay past due medical bills that totaled $100,000. The business owner had loaned him money in the past, and he didn’t feel right about asking for more, court records said. He had planned to pay the money back with his bonus and his tax return, Hoogeveen told police.
He told police that he would agree to whatever amount the company reported was missing, the report said.
The initial investigation found that as much as $63,000 could be missing from the company, according to the police report.
Hoogeveen was ordered to pay $35,000 in restitution as part of his sentencing, according to court records.
