Embezzling suspect arrested

COEUR d’ALENE — The dock master at Hagadone Marine was arrested Friday for allegedly embezzling nearly a half million dollars in cash over the course of 10 years.

According to court records Anthony D. Parks, 37, was arrested Friday after allegedly admitting to the grand theft charges.

Court records said the Hagadone Corp. conducted an internal investigation that revealed Parks had allegedly stolen $467,799 through small transactions between 2005 and 2015.

According to the report, Timothy Libby, who works for the Hagadone Corp., was conducting an accounting review of the marina’s books and discovered several irregularities related to cash refunds at the marina.

Libby told police that every cash refund was tied to a boat rental that did not occur.

“The refunds were often back-dated and issued outside business hours,” the report stated.

After discovering the cash refunds, Libby installed security cameras at the marina, which allegedly recorded Parks issuing a cash refund at the cash till for $477.

“Parks can be seen putting this cash in his pocket,” the report said, adding Libby was also able to determine the fraudulent transactions occurred at times when only Parks was present at the marina.

On Oct. 15, Libby and Craig Brosenne, general manager of the Hagadone Marine Group, confronted Parks with the evidence, and he allegedly admitted to taking money dating back to 2009.

“Parks admitted he succumbed to the temptation to take the money and used it to pay bills, and send his kids to Sting Soccer and basketball camps,” the report said. “Parks stated he had nothing to show for the money.”

Parks allegedly told police that he had conducted the fraudulent transactions two or three times a week between 2009 and 2015 and that each transaction was usually for several hundred dollars.

He allegedly started taking the money after he conducted a cash refund sometime in 2009 and discovered he did not have to justify the refund to the accounting department.

“When he discovered the note was not necessary, it launched the idea that it would be easy to issue fraudulent transactions going forward,” the report said. “Issuing fraudulent cash refunds became a fairly regular activity for Parks from that time forward.”

However, an audit of the marina’s books revealed fraudulent cash refunds dating back to 2005.

Parks was arrested for grand theft on Friday, and is now out on a $25,000 bail bond. He will face a preliminary hearing on Nov. 13.

Contacted Wednesday, Hagadone Corp. officials declined comment.