Bemidji Man To Serve Time In Prison For Embezzlement

After being charged in 2015 for embezzling over $200,000 from his former employer, Thomas Kaplan, 61, has been sentenced to three years and six months in prison.

Kaplan originally had pleaded not guilty to the felony charge of theft by swindle in 2015; in March, however, Kaplan pleaded guilty to one count of theft by diverting corporate property.

Kaplan’s former employer, American Garage Door Company originally notified police of the alleged embezzlement in January of 2014.

The criminal complaint says that American Garage Door Company’s internal investigation showed that Kaplan had been diverting customer payments to bank accounts of his own, beginning in 2008.

The complaint continues to say that Kaplan allegedly diverted payments by having customers pay a company with initials similar to those of American Garage Door Supply Co.

According to the complaint, Kaplan would then give customers receipts that made it appear as if they had paid American Garage Door.

Judge John Melbye stayed Kaplan’s sentence but Kaplan, chose to accept the prison time.

Kaplan is currently being held in the Beltrami County Jail.