A Cape Coral man arrested in April on nearly 100 felony and misdemeanor fraud charges after authorities say he stole from a senior community pleaded guilty this week to all counts.
Jacob Michael Schismenos, 32, was arrested on 31 counts of dealing in stolen property; 31 counts of fraud; and 31 counts of larceny.
He pleaded guilty to all counts Monday and was sentenced to two years of probation. Lee County Judge Nicole Lynn Mirra withheld his adjudication, meaning Mirra ordered the sanctions, but did not formally convict Schismenos.
Cape Coral police said that on April 5 officers were called to Madison Square Apartments, 817 Miramar St., a seniors community, in reference to a theft.
Police said the caller reported Schismenos, an employee, was fired for stealing from the business.
The property manager for the business told officers Schismenos was their maintenance worker, and he and herself were the only two employees who worked at the property. She said on Jan. 10 she started noticing items missing from the complex, such as an air mover; a backpack leaf blower; a portable AC unit; a hand truck; a ladder; a carpet shampooer; a wet vac; and an Oreck vacuum.
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The property manager added she confronted Schismenos and he told her the items were lost or stolen. After confronting Schismenos, she said the items reappeared.
On March 27, the property manager for the business said she noticed some of the same items missing again.
Police said she checked the security camera system and said she saw Schismenos leaving the building with the items in the bed of his truck, then returning to the location with the items in his truck later that night. She called a local pawn shop. She determined that the items were pawned, authorities said.
The property manager said the total cost of the items taken to the pawnshop was $3,620.87. She said all of the items belonged to the company and Schismenos never had permission to take them off property, sell or pawn them. Other items remained missing and unaccounted for.
Police said their probe revealed Schismenos took the items to three pawn shops and made a total of 31 pawn transactions that detectives could confirm were property that belonged to the business.
Authorities said the transactions were made on different days and times, and sometimes returned to the business and again pawned.
While employed for the business, police noted, Schismenos took various items without permission, pawned them to local pawnshops, and signed the pawnbroker transaction statements, swearing he was the legal owner, police said, adding he pawned the stolen property and collected money from the transactions.
Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Threads @tomasfrobeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews.
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