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CEDAR CITY — A Cedar City man has been arrested over allegations he embezzled funds over the past several years.
Deputies from the Iron County Sheriff's Office arrested Nate Esplin on Monday after he confessed to stealing nearly $700,000 from the Leavitt Group and helped identify how and where he had stolen the money from, according to court documents. He was an accountant for The Leavitt Group in Cedar City during the time of the theft and treasurer for several civic organizations, according to police.
Esplin is accused of inflating and fabricating expense reimbursements and recording discrepancies in travel expenses at the Leavitt Group, according to a probable cause statement. Esplin is accused of stealing $682,342.22 between 2005 and March 2014.
"The defendant had been stealing money by overstating business expenses, duplicating submissions for reimbursement, fabricating submissions of third- party contract service fees, and being reimbursed for personal expenses that he claimed were business related," the statement read.
The Leavitt Group discovered the discrepancies and conducted an internal audit, revealing Esplin had taken as much as $186,517 in one year, according to the statement.
"The amount stolen each year shows how brazen and comfortable the defendant had become as he continued to get away with the thefts," it read. "Eighty-seven percent of the total amount stolen came from a subsidiary of LGE that the defendant had almost complete control over."
Esplin was booked into the Iron County Jail and charged Monday with theft, a second-degree felony.
Contributing: Linda Williams
