Elmhurst Firm Exec Fraudulently Uses Credit Cards: Cops

ELMHURST, IL – The former general manager for Elmhurst-based Chicago Water & Fire Restoration made more than $300,000 in unauthorized purchases with company-issued credit cards, according to public records.

Last week, Patch obtained the 23-page Elmhurst police report through a public records request.

John M. Montalbano, 41, of Riverside, who was arrested late last month, is suspected of making the purchases from May 2018 to September 2022. The business is at 720 N. Larch Ave.

Montalbano resigned from Chicago Water on Sept. 9, 2022. Two weeks later, the company alerted police to the suspected thefts. The total of unauthorized purchases was $307,113, according to the report.

About two-thirds of the purchases were made with Home Depot credit cards at stores in the suburbs and one in Benton Harbor, Michigan, where Montalbano took a vacation, according to the report.

Police said Montalbano, who resigned Sept. 9, 2022, had authority over the company's Home Depot credit cards. Montalbano fraudulently used the credit cards of 30 former employees whose cards were not deactivated upon their departures, according to the report.

The company told officers no one would have known about the fraud until someone took over Montalbano's role, police said.

Montalbano's successor said he became suspicious after seeing transactions on a card for someone who left a year earlier, according to the report.

Montalbano used the company's American Express card for more than $113,856 in fraudulent purchases, police said. He bought items through Amazon, Prime Video, Kohl's, Mariano's, Best Buy, Thorntons, Apple and other stores.

Montalbano's transactions included 231 at Mariano's, totaling $40,597, and 23 at Best Buy, totaling $26,330, police said.

According to the report, Montalbano made purchases with Home Depot credit cards even after he left – $545 on Sept. 11, 2022, and $226 on Sept. 23, 2022.

On June 25, Montalbano was indicted by a grand jury on charges of identity theft over $100,000 and theft of $100,000 to $500,000, the report said.

Three days later, Montalbano turned himself in at the police station. He has been released until his trial.

The company said Montalbano worked there for eight years.