WINSTED — The Aug. 30 arrest of Winsted’s former finance director came with the disclosure of allegations that the longtime town employee was leading a double life, complete with high-stakes gambling and a mistress in Florida (see “Centrella’s Florida Connection,” according to documents provided by Connecticut State Police.Henry Centrella was arraigned in Litchfield Superior Court Aug. 30 on five counts of larceny related to an extensive investigation into the disappearance of millions of dollars in town funds. State Police say Centrella stole more than $2 million from Winsted taxpayers between January 2008 and November 2012, using the money to gamble at Connecticut casinos and to maintain a relationship with a mistress in Florida, whom a police report says he had promised to marry.According to a 28-page report filed in Litchfield Superior Court, including a lengthy affidavit submitted by Detective Michael W. Fitzsimons of the Connecticut State Police, Centrella is suspected of stealing a minimum of $2,073,340.58 from the town of Winchester between the years of 2008 and 2012. For each of those years, one count of larceny was charged against Centrella. At his Aug. 30 arraignment he was ordered held at the New Haven Correctional Center, where he remains on a $100,000 cash-only bond.Fitzsimons noted in his affidavit that members of the Connecticut State Police Western District Major Crime Squad were assigned to the Centrella case after a formal complaint was made by Winchester Police Chief Robert Scannell regarding missing funds in excess of $26,000 during the month of October 2012 alone. It was soon discovered that potentially more than $250,000 had been missing from January to October of 2012. Fitzsimons worked with members of the BlumShapiro accounting firm, which had been investigating potential misappropriated funds, to determine the estimated total missing funds between 2008 and 2012.Investigation launchedThe investigation into Centrella dates back to June 25, 2012, when it was discovered that more than $54,000 had gone missing from town accounts. Fitzsimons noted that Centrella had personally authorized withdrawals in the form of “small change requests” from town accounts and then, after being asked about the missing money, redeposited the funds into town accounts in smaller amounts over the course of seven days.“The auditors were not provided with adequate documentation from Mr. Centrella to support the reasoning behind the withdrawals and redeposits,” Fitzsimons stated. “The matter was brought to the attention of Town Manager Dale Martin and it was determined that an additional investigation should be undertaken.”The town’s tax office became the central focus of the investigation, Fitzsimons noted, because it collects the largest amount of cash on any given day.“Each day, the Tax Department reconciled all funds collected and organized them by batch number and date. Included with these batches were copies of the daily deposit slip which were handwritten by the Tax Department. At the end of each day, the Tax Department submitted to Mr. Centrella a deposit bag including cash, checks and the corresponding deposit slip.“BlumShapiro reviewed all available batches between January 2008 and Nov. 14, 2012 (Note: Mr. Centrella was placed on administrative leave effective Nov. 14, 2012, and terminated on Jan. 17, 2013). For each batch, BlumShapiro requested a copy of the corresponding deposit slip from Bank of America.”Upon comparing the deposit slips, BlumShapiro determined Centrella had been forging the deposit slips, taking cash out of the town’s deposits and replacing it with town revenue checks. “It is believed that Mr. Centrella removed all or the majority of the cash from the daily deposit bags and replaced the cash with revenue checks received by other departments. In some instances, in order to make the total of the deposit agree with the amount on the Tax Department’s deposit slip, Mr. Centrella drew a manual check from the town’s general fund, made payable to the town of Winchester, and included that check in the deposit, in place of a portion of the cash that had been removed.”Fitzsimons noted in his affidavit that he contacted Centrella by phone on Feb. 13, 2013, and requested to arrange a time and date to meet in person regarding the accusations. Centrella never attempted to contact the detective, Fitzsimons reported. On Feb. 26, state police executed a search of Centrella’s 198 Gilbert Ave. home and confiscated 22 prepared town of Winchester Bank of America deposit slips, dated between 2010 and 2011. Copies of checks that were used to replace cash were attached to the deposit slips.Investigators also discovered end of the year gaming summaries from various casinos including Connecticut’s Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, indicating that Centrella and his wife, Gregg, lost a combined total of $548,792.37 between 2008 and 2012. A search of Centrella’s bank records revealed numerous joint accounts in the name of Henry and his wife, and in some cases him and his children. The total balance of all the accounts in January 2008 was approximately $380,000. In December 2012, the amount had fallen to approximately $21,000.“Numerous unknown cash deposits into the various accounts, totaling approximately $378,534, was observed,” Fitzsimons noted. “Approximately $1,380,255 in total expenses was observed. The expenses ranged from college tuitions, credit card debt, food, insurance, air fare and other miscellaneous purchases made from 2008 through 2012.”Employees share similar storiesTown Hall employees interviewed by Fitzsimons tell other stories of being deceived in their sworn statements. Colleen Garrity, who served as Centrella’s assistant, noted that Centrella would handle all of the accounts receivable for the town. “Henry would retrieve all of the Finance Department’s mail to include incoming checks. Henry prepared all of the town’s bank deposit slips except for the Tax Department who prepared their own. Henry was also responsible for documenting all transactions in the town’s general ledger.”Garrity noted that when Centrella was out of work he would instruct members of the finance department to place incoming money in a file cabinet or lock it in a drawer. Centrella would also come into the office at night to prepare bank statements and deposit slips.“Today, June 3, 2013, Detective Fitzsimons presented me with copies of deposit slips retrieved from the Bank of America. The deposit slips contained the amount deposited at the bank on that specific date by the town Tax Department. I immediately recognized that the handwriting on each deposit slip was Henry Centrella’s. To my knowledge, there is no reason for Henry to prepare the Tax Department’s deposit slips... Detective Fitzsimons also presented me with copies of checks that were utilized to supplement the undeposited cash. The checks utilized were all accounts receivable checks and should never have been included with the Tax Department deposits.”Garrity said Centrella was the only one who could have received the checks. She also noted that many one-time use plastic bags used for transferring money to the bank were found in Centrella’s office after he was terminated.“In hindsight, I believe Henry would receive the Tax Department’s money, open the sealed bag, supplement the cash with accounts receivable checks and secure it into a new plastic bag, sealed and later transported to the bank for deposit.”Additional interviews took place with part-time town Treasurer Spencer Monroe, Collector of Revenue Arlene Boutin, Purchasing Agent Mark Douglass, and Assistant Collector of Revenue Mark Herzog, all of whom told similar stories of Centrella keeping a tight grip on the town’s finances and telling employees that he “would take care of” any problems reconciling discrepancies.A concurrent investigation found that Centrella had inflated his state and federal tax withholdings on his W-2 forms from 1995 to 2012, in a scheme that defrauded the town of more than $180,000. The Town of Winchester is suing both Centrella and his wife for at least $7.5 million, in hopes of recovering lost revenues.Centrella’s Florida connectionFitzsimons noted that the investigation of Centrella led to Florida, where there were rumors that he had purchased a home. While the rumors turned up no real estate, there had been offers to purchase homes ranging up to $900,000. During the investigation, an article was found online associating Centrella with a woman who resides in Florida. In the article, the woman described Centrella as her fiancé, and claimed that Centrella would be moving to Florida soon to be with her.Fitzsimons spoke with the woman, who reportedly confirmed she was previously engaged to Centrella. She said she had met him at the casino where she was employed in early 2000.“He was a frequent patron at the casino and was considered to be a high roller,” Fitzsimons reported. “Around the beginning of 2008 they started talking to one another more often. He explained to her that he was separated from his wife and in the process of going through a divorce. Around August of 2008, Henry said the divorce was over, which she took as finalized.”Fitzsimons noted that Centrella and the woman in Florida became romantically involved and later became engaged to be married in 2009. “He even went so far as to give her an engagement ring when he proposed to her. He convinced her to quit her job and move south so she could spend time and live with her parents. He told her that she did not have to work and that if she wanted to go back to school he would pay for it. She never went back to school and he provided her with approximately $1,000 a month to cover any of her bills.”Centrella reportedly visited the woman sporadically and asked her to be patient. He reportedly told the woman he was living with two friends in Connecticut. Centrella also reportedly told the woman he had acquired his wealth through the sale of 88 acres of land to Disney World, along with profits from the sale of Google stock. “He spared no expense and liked how people looked at him when he said he would pay in cash,” Fitzsimons noted. “The amount of cash he always carried on him made her nervous and Centrella would tell her to relax because he always does.”In addition to proposing to the woman, Centrella reportedly began plans for a wedding, buying a custom wedding dress, renting a dining hall and purchasing airfare for all of the woman’s family and friends.“The wedding was scheduled for October 2009, however it was postponed because of Centrella’s health. He told her that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.... Because the money spent for the wedding was nonrefundable, Centrella decided to hold a large ‘gala’ for her family and friends at the reception hall instead of a wedding. All of her family and friends were flown to Florida for this ‘gala’ in February 2010,” Fitzsimons reported.The woman grew suspicious of Centrella in 2012 and visited Winsted, confronting Centrella at his home and learning that he was still married and living with his wife and family.“At that time, she terminated the engagement,” Fitzsimons noted. “Centrella flew to Florida to see her this past March of 2013 in an attempt to reconcile with her. She refused to reconcile, however she requested that he continue to financially assist her until she could find employment. She describes Centrella as a brilliant liar.”Persona non grataThe Florida woman reportedly contacted Fitzsimons this summer to tell him that Centrella had left her several text messages and two voicemails claiming that he was thinking of traveling to Florida to talk with her. “On Aug. 11, 2013, she telephoned Centrella and spoke with him. She told him that she never wanted to speak with him again. During that telephone conversation, Centrella asked her if ‘they’ — meaning the police — knew that he had put money into her account. She told him ‘they’ know everything and that he is not smart if he thinks otherwise.”Finally, Centrella’s wife, Gregg, was contacted by Fitzsimons on Aug. 5.“Gregg Centrella explained that although they still reside together they have not spoken in months,” Fitzsimons wrote. “The only information she knows about this investigation is what she has read in the newspaper.”
