Las Vegas man accused of stealing $75K and a Porsche from his work
By C.C. McCandless
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LAS VEGAS, Nevada (KVVU) — A Las Vegas man is facing theft charges after he allegedly wrote himself $75,000 in company checks and stole a Porsche from the car dealership where he worked.
Vincent DiBella was arrested on Sept. 22 and is facing charges of theft greater than $25,000 but less than $100,000. According to court documents, Las Vegas police were contacted by an employee of Platinum Motorcars of Las Vegas on March 13 in connection to allegations of forgery and grand larceny of an automobile.
The reporting party, a controller for the business, told police that the dealership noticed that DiBella was writing company checks to himself without authorization or permission. He explained that checks for $25,000 each were written on Feb. 28, March 1 and March 2.
After noticing the unlawful checks, one of the business owners said “words were exchanged” with DiBella. The suspect was terminated from the business on March 4.
On March 8, the business noticed that one of its vehicles, a 2016 Porsche Macan Turbo, was missing from the lot. Video surveillance reportedly showed DiBella getting into the car in question on March 7. He then drove it off the lot.
An employee alleged that DiBella accessed a company key box in the mechanic’s area of the business and stole the car. DiBella never had permission to use or drive any vehicle at the business, even when he was employed there. The employee who reported the theft also told police that DiBella contacted a representative inside the shop on the day of the theft and asked techs not to install GPS on the vehicle that was stolen.
A Financial Crimes Detective spoke to the owners of the business, a married couple, who told the investigator that they are the only two people allowed to issue checks from the business. They said that DiBella had worked as a sales manager there for approximately eight years. They explained that DiBella had expressed an interest in being made a partner of the business, but “the partnership never occurred and there was no contract signed by either party.”
Police subpoenaed a bank to examine the checks that DiBella allegedly wrote to himself. An investigator confirmed that the signature stamp that the business typically used to write checks did not match the name written on the ones the suspect cashed. Bank surveillance footage showed DiBella depositing $5,000 of the first check and withdrawing $20,000.
The suspect then reportedly withdrew all $50,000 of the second and third checks.
Police contacted an ex-girlfriend of DiBella and she provided investigators with thousands of pages of text messages, including threads referencing his cashing the checks. In one message, he told her that “all of the signatures on the checks he’s ever cashed matched,” according to court documents.
DiBella has a Justice Court appearance scheduled for October 30.
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