Man accused of stealing
As published on page one of the Sept. 29, 2011 edition of The Keene Sentinel, and online.
A Massachusetts accountant has been charged with stealing more than $250,000 from a trust fund he supervised on behalf of the employees of a Peterborough company and with falsifying documents to hide that he had previously taken even more money.
Bernard R. Mullan, 70, of Leominster was indicted in U.S. District Court in Concord on 25 counts of embezzling funds from the pension plan for employees of Peterboro Tool Company Inc., a small manufacturing company with its headquarters and operations in West Peterborough.
The alleged unauthorized withdrawals happened between October 2007 and November 2009 and totaled more than $250,000. The individual withdrawals ranged in value from $1,000 to $40,000, according to the indictment.
The indictment also alleges that in 2006 and 2007 annual reports, Mullan overstated the plan's value by failing to disclose that he had previously taken another $225,000 from it, and that in the 2007 and 2008 annual reports Mullan failed to disclose that he had taken funds from the plan.
Mullan was the accountant for Peterboro Tool from its founding in 1972 until bank officials noticed irregular withdrawals from the account in November 2009, according to James Poodiack Jr., company president.
Poodiack, 47, is the son of one of the founders of the company and took over as the president in 2008. He and Judy Stockwell, widow of former president Kenneth Stockwell, own the business.
Mullan was a well-dressed, friendly man who spent hours at the company most Fridays, Poodiack and Stockwell said.
"He knew little personal things about everybody. As he went though the shop to get coffee he would stop and talk with people," Poodiack said.
The company's five employees were told about the investigation into Mullan's handling of their pension fund as soon as it began, Poodiack said, and have been kept abreast of the situation as it developed.
"It's pretty much a family-type company," he said. "I've known most of the people who work here since I was a kid."
In the last statement Mullan filed in 2009 he claimed the fund's assets were more than $900,000, but Poodiack said he's not sure how much there really is in the fund.
The company paid into the account, which Mullan managed, and employees were paid a share of the total when they left based on their pay rate and years with the company, Poodiack said. The fund has been frozen since the investigation began in 2009.
Mullan, who could not be reached for comment, pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance. A trial has been scheduled for Nov. 8.
If found guilty, Mullan faces a maximum sentence of five years in jail on each of the 25 charges of embezzlement, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark S. Zuckerman.
In the case of a conviction the court would also issue a restitution order directing Mullan to pay back the money taken from the pension fund, Zuckerman said.
"That's the point of going through all this," Poodiack said. "Our first priority is getting everyone's money back."
Mullan filed an involuntary petition for bankruptcy in 2010.
tagged with: court case, embezzlement, manufacturing, Peterborough N.H.
<< Keene to hold primary Former Dublin employee files suit >>