Berkshire County Woman Stole More Than $1,000,000 From Employer

A Berkshire County woman is guilty of ripping her employer off of more than $1 million through multiple false records and checks. What makes the crime so particularly heinous is that it was perpetrated on a small business as opposed to a larger corporation that might have been less affected by the theft.

The Berkshire District Attorney’s Office announced this afternoon via a press release that a guilty conviction and jail sentence was secured for the woman who stole the money incrementally from her employer, George Apkin and Sons, in North Adams.

Multiple transactions were made to perpetuate the theft...

According to the District Attorney's Office, 57-year-old Deborah Trybus, of Lanesborough, pled guilty in Berkshire Superior Court on Tuesday to six counts of Larceny over $1,200 by a single scheme, as well as six counts of forgery of a check, six counts of uttering a false check, six counts of false entries into corporation records, and one count of being a common and notorious thief.

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The judge sentenced her above recommended guidelines...

Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harrington told the Berkshire News Network this morning, before the press release came out, that Trybus was given a harsher sentence than that which was recommended by the guidelines because of the amounts of money involved.

Judge Edward McDonough sentenced Trybus to serve three to five years in state prison, which is what the Berkshire District Attorney's Office had asked for. The state’s sentencing guidelines recommend a sentence between one to three years.

Small business owners place their trust in their employees...

I thank the Adams Police Department for their thorough investigation into this case. Mrs. Trybus stole a significant amount of money from the Apkin family over time, and I am proud that my office held her accountable for her actions. Small business owners place their trust in their employees and it is particularly harmful when people placed in trusted positions abuse that trust. ~ Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harrington

The investigation started in 2019...

The Adams Police Department began investigating Trybus in 2019 for writing fraudulent checks. The State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office assisted Adams Police in the investigation.

The crime was actually concocted in 2012. Detectives discovered that Trybus, an office manager of George Apkin and Sons, had been writing fraudulent checks from the company and depositing them into an account she had opened for herself since that year.