Holtsville man accused of stealing $443,841 from East Moriches employer

Anthony Ferguson, a 37-year-old Holtsville man, is accused of funneling more than 200 checks into his personal bank account and taking $443,841 from a business on Frowein Road in East Moriches.

Suffolk County police said the alleged theft ran from April 9, 2020, through Nov. 28, 2025, a stretch that suggests a long-running scheme rather than a single bad transaction. The business owner reported the missing money to police on Dec. 3, 2025, after concluding that one of his employees had embezzled funds from the company.

Investigators with the Suffolk County Police Financial Crimes Unit worked with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office Financial Crimes Bureau to trace the payments. Ferguson was charged with grand larceny in the second degree and falsifying business records in the first degree, charges that point to both the size of the loss and the paper trail behind it.

Police said Ferguson was held overnight at the Sixth Precinct and was scheduled to be arraigned in First District Court in Central Islip on May 12. The case places a hard number on the damage internal theft can do to a small or midsized business: more than 200 checks and nearly half a million dollars moved out over time before the loss was reported.

For Suffolk employers, the case is a reminder that fraud often hides in ordinary bookkeeping. A trusted employee with access to checks, deposits and records can inflict major damage before anyone notices, especially when there are weak controls over who opens mail, writes deposits, reconciles accounts or reviews bank statements.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office says it works with local, state and federal law enforcement to prosecute crimes and support victims. District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney, who was elected in November 2021 and took office on Jan. 1, 2022, has made financial crime enforcement part of that wider mission.

Newsday also reported the arrest on May 13, reinforcing the local significance of a case that began with a complaint from an East Moriches business owner and ended with a criminal case built around a long paper trail.