Manager accused of embezzling from Glenville company

The numbers didn’t add up, so John Busino called his accountant.

Had his office manager — a woman who was also the head bookkeeper — not been on vacation, he might have just asked her, recalled Busino, owner of JBS, LLC in Glenville.

But what the accountant found led Wednesday to the longtime bookkeeper’s arrest.

Suzanne M. Endres, 39, of Niskayuna, was charged Wednesday on counts of grand larceny and falsifying business records. She is accused of taking an estimated $64,000 from the steel fabrication company over the past five years. As office manager and head bookkeeper, she was the only employee with access to the books, police said.

Endres had worked at the company since 1995. She was fired in August after the missing money was discovered, then the findings were turned over to police. Detective Michael Lamb made the arrest.

“I was devastated,” Busino said Wednesday, recalling the moment when he realized what had happened. “I have trust in all my employees. I was devastated she would do it to me, that she did it to all my employees.”

JBS employs 16 at its Maple Avenue offices, doing work on steel buildings. It also has a shop in Johnstown.

Endres is accused of taking the money by either pocketing portions of checks, or taking pay advances but then taking her regular pay again, according to papers filed in court.

Police used the business’ books to find the thefts, Detective William Marchewka said. Among the findings were alterations where payments were scratched out and changed to different numbers.

Between Busino, the accountant, and Lamb, more than 200 false entries attributed to Endres were found, each of them an effort to cover up the thefts, Marchewka said. On July 29, just before the thefts were discovered, Endres entered into the books a check for $2,914 but took the money for herself, according to papers.

Endres is being represented by attorney Steve Kouray, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening. She was arraigned and released on her own recognizance to return to court later.

Marchewka recommended regular audits of the books, especially for small businesses.

Busino, who has owned JBS for about 20 years, said over the last few years business had already been slow due to the economy. The result of the thefts meant that all his employees were put in jeopardy.

“During any time it’s bad,” he said, “but it’s especially bad during tough times.”

Busino said changes will be made to prevent anything like this from happening again. He also said that blanket trust he had is now gone. “It will be a long time before I trust somebody else to take care of the books, if ever.”