Feds: Harwich Port Man Embezzled $12 million

by Alan Pollock

            HARWICH PORT — A U.S. District Court magistrate issued wire fraud and mail fraud charges against a 41-year-old Harwich Port man, whom prosecutors allege bilked some $12 million from his off-Cape employer.  Officials say Jeffrey Windle told his former employer he had been “living a life of lies as long as I can remember,” and say he had recently obtained an application for a passport.

            Last Thursday, a district court magistrate agreed to keep Windle in custody, judging him a serious flight risk.

            Windle, who is married with two children, had been working as director of budget and finance at Cambium Learning, Inc., a Natick-based educational publishing company.  On April 26, the FBI was contacted by an official with Cambium’s parent company who claimed that Windle had misappropriated around $5 million from a particular account.  In the weeks prior, a number of vendors complained to Cambium that they had not received payments, alerting suspicions of wrongdoing. 

            The FBI alleges that Windle diverted funds and provided false spreadsheets to the company’s accounting staff, and then made unauthorized wire transfers from a Colorado bank to a number of firms, including nearly $1 million to Allen Harbor Marine, where he purchased at least one yacht.

            Investigators say they still have not accounted for all of the missing money, and it appears Windle may have hidden some of the funds in the accounts of the South Dennis Congregational Church, where he volunteered as a bookkeeper.  Officials say it appears Windle may have stolen funds from the church, as well.

            Windle’s defense attorney, John Moscardelli of Boston, said the case is still in its very early stages.

            “This entire case is still less than two weeks old and it has a long way to go,” he said.  Like any other criminal defendant, Windle is presumed innocent of any and all charges until proven guilty, Moscardelli said.

            Windle allegedly used the funds to purchase around seven vehicles, a number of boats, two homes in Florida and two on Cape Cod—including one at 652 Main St., Harwich Port.  That property includes three buildings totaling more than 6,500 square feet on 2.1 acres of land, and is assessed at nearly $1.9 million.

            Windle’s supervisor at Cambium left him a voicemail message on April 27 telling him that he was suspended from work.

            “On that day, Windle apparently wrote a note to [his employer] asking mercy for his family and indicating that the only way he could see to end the pain was to kill himself,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Gail Dein wrote in an order of detention last week.  After Windle left a voicemail with the same information, the employer called police.

            “Windle was found sitting in his car in a parking lot.  He agreed to go to Cape Cod Hospital where he was committed for a mental evaluation.  Upon his discharge on Thursday, May 1, 2008, he was arrested,” Dein wrote.

            The arrest warrant was issued that day at the request of  FBI Special Agent Sheila Magoon, assigned to the Economic Crimes Squad of the Boston Division.

            A native of Worcester, Windle earned just over $100,000 annually at Cambium, court documents indicate.  Prior to joining Cambium in 2004, he worked for General Cable Company in Taunton, and as the general manager of the Agway store in Orleans.  Before that, he was a maintenance supervisor at a landscape company on Cape Cod.

            Arguing that Windle should continue to be detained before his trial, prosecutors pointed to Windle’s criminal record.

            “In 1990, he paid restitution or fines in several state district court larceny cases.  In 1995, he was indicted for forgery, larceny and uttering, and was found guilty in Worcester Superior Court.  He was sentenced to two years committed.  In 1997, he was found guilty of making false claims and statements in this U.S. District Court and was sentenced to 15 months boot camp, followed by 36 months supervised release,” Dein wrote.

            Though Windle’s wife apparently knew about these prior convictions, she presumably “had no knowledge of the sources of his incredible wealth over the last few years.  Assuming this to be true, the defendant obviously lived a very separate and secretive life from his family,” the magistrate wrote.

            Last Thursday, Somerset-based J & J Marine Fabrication, Inc., filed a civil suit against Windle, seeking to recover more than $100,000 for work on five boats in 2007 and this year.  The boats named in the suit are a 46-foot ocean yacht, a 41-foot Tiara, a 41-foot Albemarle, a 31-foot Albemarle and a 25-foot captain’s launch.  At least one of the boats, the 41-foot Albemarle, was purchased from Allen Harbor Marine, where it is currently being kept.  The boat is named “Cape Escape.”

            A trial date has not yet been set.

5/15/08