Couple Charged With Embezzling More Than $900,000 From Nassau Company

A paralegal from Las Vegas and her husband were arraigned Wednesday for allegedly stealing more than $900,000 from a construction company based in Lynbrook.

Linda Minervini, 53, and Thomas Cacaci Jr., 37, were arraigned before Acting Supreme Court Justice Meryl Berkowitz on an indictment charging them with second-degree grand larceny and 20 counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument.

If convicted, Minervini faces a maximum seven and a half to 15 years in prison, and Cacaci faces five to 15 years in prison.

The couple was living in Las Vegas and arrested by Las Vegas Police on Dec. 9. They waived extradition and were transported by district attorney investigators to New York to face the charges.

“These defendants scammed more than $900,000 from a construction company and used the money for a timeshare, car expenses and legal fees,” said District Attorney Madeline Singas. “When employees embezzle, they should expect to be fully prosecuted by my office.”

According to Singas, Minervini was employed as a paralegal for a Lynbrook-based construction company. As part of her responsibilities, she was authorized to settle liability construction claims that were less than $10,000 and obtained general releases of liability from the claimants involved and sent them their settlement checks.

Between October 2009 and November 2015, the district attorney said that Minervini allegedly embezzled $913,315 from the company by creating checks to pay claims that did not actually exist. The checks were then signed by the victim, who did not know they were fraudulent, and allegedly altered by adding other payees to them without the knowledge or consent of her employer. At the beginning of the alleged scheme, many of the checks were made out to Cacaci, who then allegedly assisted in depositing them into the account of a corporation he and Minervini formed in 2010 in the name of New York Emergency & First Response Inc. Both Minervini and Cacaci had access to the account.

The alleged scheme was discovered in November 2015 when the office manager of the company became suspicious because the quantity of checks generated for these settlements was disproportionately greater than the amount of discussion taking place within the company concerning these claimants. Minervini was subsequently fired.

The pair allegedly spent the money on a time share in Las Vegas, where they resided until their arrest. They had moved to Las Vegas in May 2016 after living in separate residences in Queens. The defendants also allegedly spent the money on expenses related to Cacaci’s parents’ Las Vegas home, household furnishings, cars, legal fees, airline tickets, hotel lodging and other daily living expenses.

Photo: Nassau County District Attorney's Office