the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Hasbrouck Heights NJ, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announced the arrest of MARIBEL RIOS aka MARIBEL ROCHE (DOB: 12/02/1969; married; bookkeeper) of 75 Lasalle Avenue, Hasbrouck Heights, NJ on charges of Money Laundering and Theft. The arrest was the result of an investigation conducted by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office under the direction of Chief Jason Love and the Bogota Police Department under the direction of Chief Daniel Maye.
On Tuesday, October 13, 2020, detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Financial Crimes Unit received information regarding an employee theft from a Bergen County-based carpentry business. The subsequent investigation revealed that over an approximate three-year period, MARIBEL RIOS, acting in her capacity as a bookkeeper for the company, had diverted approximately $1.1 million of company monies to her own personal control. Specifically, the defendant had engaged in various schemes to include: manipulating the company payroll system to issue payroll deposits to “ghost employees,” issuing company checks to accounts belonging to or controlled by her, as well as manipulating company accounting software to justify the checks. Once the monies were diverted to accounts that the defendant controlled, the funds were depleted for personal expenses unrelated to the company.
On Thursday, May 6, 2021, MARIBEL RIOS was arrested and charged with one count of Money Laundering, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:21-25c, a 1st degree crime; and one count of Theft, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:20-3a, a 2nd degree crime. RIOS was remanded to the Bergen County Jail pending her first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
Prosecutor Musella states that the charges are merely accusations and that the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Merely accusations, then why arrest her? 100% guilty, so obvious, lock her up and throw the key away. Teach these criminals a lesson, the owner of this business and their family are out a lot of money. Probably broke because of this selfish criminal.
If you don’t have a degree in law then keep your comments to yourself! When you assume you only make an *** of yourself.
She’s innocent the man running the company is corrupt. I’m an ex employee for him and on record he has done this to multiple other families. He is horrible and spiteful.