Newtown police: N.Y. woman charged with embezzling thousands from her employer

NEWTOWN — A Putnam County woman will be arraigned Tuesday at state Superior Court in Danbury after being arrested last month on charges that she embezzled thousands of dollars from a Newtown business.

Vlora Ajdari, of Brewster, N.Y., was charged with second-degree larceny and eight counts of third-degree forgery after turning herself in on a warrant Dec. 26, stemming from a Newtown police investigation into a September 2023 larceny/ fraud complaint. There is no attorney currently listed in her case.

The 42-year-old is accused of stealing over $13,500 from her employer, New England Tile Design LLC, over the course of nine months by writing checks out to herself.

The warrant for Ajdari’s arrest states that she was hired as a full-time bookkeeper at the tile and stone company in April 2022. The warrant does not say whether Ajdari still works for the company, which could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday morning.

Newtown police said they launched an investigation Sept. 1, after the human resources director at New England Tile Design filed a complaint “regarding fraud activity of an employee writing checks to herself.”

The owner of the business had suspected something was “off” about the company’s cash flow in 2022, but Ajdari provided financial reports/statements showing “no glaring issues,” according to the warrant for her arrest.

The company’s HR director told police that a September 2023 review of the business checking account showed nine checks, with what appeared to be forged signatures of the business owner, had been written out to Ajdari dating back to November 2022, according to the warrant.

The HR director said some of the checks were redeemed at a check-cashing business in Brewster, N.Y., where Ajdari lived, and police later confirmed that, according to the warrant for Ajdari’s arrest.

Newtown police said they obtained transaction records from the Brewster check-cashing business and found Ajdari had cashed three of the allegedly forged checks there. According to the warrant for Ajdari’s arrest, police determined that the other six checks had been cashed at a bank in Newtown.

After discovering the record of fraudulent checks, the HR director told police she notified the owner of New England Tile Design, who asked Ajdari for a list of checks written out in August 2023. According to the warrant for her arrest, the list Ajdari provided didn’t match up with the checking account records.

According to the warrant, the HR director found a file containing “stubs that did not have (the business owner’s) initials and did not have any supporting documentation,” and that there were also checks written by Ajdari to herself “but the paystubs were missing in the file.”

The HR director told police she also found a file containing “a sheet that had what appeared to be (the business owner)’s copied signatures in three different styles,” and said “it appeared someone had written on top of those as if to practice or copy his signature,” the warrant states.

During a Sept. 12 interview, the business owner told police his company policy was for him to personally review and sign every check issued and initial a certain area of the pay stubs. He said the checks in question “did not have his signature on them, were not authorized by him, did not have his initials on the check stubs, and appeared to be endorsed by Vlora Ajdari,” according to the warrant for her arrest.

The owner also told police he had discussed his concerns with Ajdari “numerous times” and that she would present him with “various financial reports and spreadsheets, reassuring him that (she) was billing and collecting monies on time,” the warrant stated.

Newtown police said they called Ajdari on Sept. 24, and left a message asking her to go to the police station for an interview. The warrant for her arrest states that an attorney called police the next day, saying he was representing her and that she would not be going to the police station.

On Sept. 26, New England Tile Design’s HR director forwarded police an email the business owner received from Ajdari, who said she had received a call from Newtown police and asked the business owner to “have mercy” and “help” her, according to the warrant for her arrest.

The warrant states that on Oct. 20, a Newtown police officer found a fax from another attorney that “appeared to be an attempt to make restitution alleged to be owed by Vlora Ajdari.”

That same day, police said they received a voicemail message from New England Tile Design’s HR director, stating that her attorney advised her not to accept any civil payments from Ajdari and that she would like to continue with the criminal investigation.

Police received another fax with a restitution offer of $16,000 on Nov. 3, according to the warrant for Ajdari’s arrest, followed by another “which appeared to make the same offer of restitution as the first fax but also (stated that) Ajdari owes New England Tile Design $12,000 as a personal loan.”

The warrant states that after receiving the fax, police spoke to the New England Tile Design’s HR director, who said the company would not accept any restitution and wanted to pursue charges against Ajdari.

Newtown police requested a warrant for Ajdari’s arrest Nov. 22, according to court documents, and the warrant was approved four weeks later.

Ajdari was released on a $2,500 appearance bond following her Dec. 26 arrest.