Employee accused of huge theft

A criminal complaint made public on Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court accuses a 57-year-old Inver Grove Heights man of stealing almost $1 million from his employer.

Mark B. Grabitske is charged with eight felony counts of theft by swindle that allege he embezzled $933,776.21 from Twin Cities Wrecker Sales Inc. in St. Paul between 2005 and 2009.

A phone number for Grabitske had been disconnected Wednesday afternoon. He was charged by summons and must appear in court on Dec. 30.

Rodney Pellow, owner of Twin Cities Wrecker Sales, said his attorney advised him not to comment. He did confirm that Grabitske no longer works for the company.

"The bad part about this, this is not good business for my business," Pellow said. "Especially with the dollar amounts ... "

Twin Cities Wrecker Sales sells and services new and used towing equipment.

According to the criminal complaint: St. Paul police began investigating Grabitske almost a year ago. Pellow told investigators that Grabitske formerly owned Mark's Chevrolet in Ellsworth, Wis., which he sold in the mid-1990s to Quinn Motors. Grabitske then went to work for Twin Cities Wrecker Sales.

Pellow said he had given two checks for that amount to Grabitske. When Pellow went to Grabitske's home, Grabitske admitted he'd kept the checks, the complaint said. He was given until 2010 to repay the money but never did, the document said.

An accountant discovered that Grabitske allegedly had been depositing business checks into his old "Mark's Chevrolet" account since 2005. The complaint said Grabitske hid the thefts by recording that the money went to Quinn. The investigation found that Grabitske allegedly deposited a total of 36 checks into his own account between March 1, 2005, and Sept. 28, 2009. The checks ranged from $11,817 to $51,500.