Michael Anthony Cicon, 56, a longtime manager at Falzone’s Towing Service in Wilkes-Barre, PA, faces charges for allegedly embezzling over $500,000 from the company. Court documents reveal that Cicon manipulated customer receipts to siphon funds for himself. He was formally charged by District Judge Thomas Malloy on Friday with five counts of theft and two counts of receiving stolen property.
Investigations by the Wilkes-Barre City police and the Luzerne County district attorney’s office led to the discovery of substantial amounts of cash in duffel bags and a safe at Cicon’s Wyoming home, along with altered receipts from the towing business.
The criminal complaint outlines that Cicon, who managed daily operations and customer transactions at the towing service, started diverting funds from customer payments in January 2020. He is accused of either modifying existing receipts or creating new ones to conceal his theft.
Suspicions arose among Falzone’s employees who noticed discrepancies in the accounting of customer fees. Subsequent examination of several receipts revealed that Cicon would collect higher payments than those documented. He is alleged to have pocketed between $75 and $550 per transaction.
As part of the investigation, undercover operations were conducted where decoy customers were overcharged, and Cicon recorded lower amounts on internal receipts.
Furthermore, Cicon is accused of making personal purchases using Falzone’s business bank and credit cards.
Upon executing a search warrant at Cicon’s residence, detectives recovered $544,951 from a safe and an additional $10,304 alongside Falzone towing receipts.
Following his arraignment, Cicon was released on $175,000 unsecured bail.
