Sandwich’s outgoing school committee chairman, Donald P. DiGiacomo, has been charged with felony larceny by a single scheme for allegedly stealing money from his former employer.
He was arranged in Orleans District Court on December 5, 2022.
Mr. DiGiacomo announced his planned resignation from the school board in February, citing personal reasons and balancing work and family life. His resignation will not be effective until May 3.
The allegations, which Mr. DiGiacomo denies, are made by his former employers at Dirt Works Inc., a paving and excavating company based in Harwich. Mr. DiGiacomo worked as general manager for Dirt Works between March 2017 and September 2021.
During this time, Dirt Works alleges that Mr. DiGiacomo had fraudulently charged company credit cards, asked for cash advance loans of more than $15,000 and wrote fraudulent company checks to himself, according to police and court documents.
The Harwich police report states that some of that money was used to pay a preexisting theft repayment in lieu of criminal charges to another former employer, Bay State Reclamation, in Hanover.
The criminal case against Mr. DiGiacomo is focused on seven fraudulent checks totaling $4,037.32. However, according to court documents, Dirt Works alleges that much more money was stolen.
Dirt Works had previously been fighting in bankruptcy court to have $19,504.53 of unsecured debt owed by Mr. DiGiacomo to the company considered to be fraudulent. The court ruled the debt was excepted from discharge on June 8, 2022, due to reasons of embezzlement and larceny. That debt was then included in a bankruptcy filing by Mr. DiGiacomo. That filing was dismissed on November 22, 2022, for failure to make payments.
The Enterprise contacted Mr. DiGiacomo this week for comment.
“The dispute with my former employer has had no bearing on my dealings on the committee, or my decision to resign,” he said. “It has been an honor to serve the Town of Sandwich on the school committee for the past five years, but I feel it is the appropriate time for me to move on.”
A preliminary hearing for the case is scheduled for Friday, March 24, in Orleans District Court.
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