Harleysville Man Charged with Stealing $484,000 from Family Business

Christopher Oleksa, 36, of Lower Salford Township.

A Harleysville man is facing hundreds of felony theft charges following an investigation into the theft of nearly half a million dollars from a local family business.

Police allege that 36-year-old Christopher Oleksa stole more than $484,000 from Firely Pediatric and Home Care Services, which is owned by Oleksa’s in-laws. The release states that John and Holly Firely contacted the Lower Salford Police Department on April 13 to report that they had noticed numerous unauthorized and unexplained transactions on company bank accounts and credit cards. Investigators determined that Oleksa — who became the company’s chief operations officer in 2014 — had allegedly made 3,908 unauthorized credit card transactions between 2014 and early 2020, with most going towards personal expenses and others relating to Oleksa attempting to launch his own photography business, according to the release.

Police allege that Oleksa would then alter the credit card statements to disguise the unauthorized transactions.

Investigators also discovered that Oleksa had allegedly forged 21 business checks which were deposited  into his personal bank account, and they found another 16 unauthorized wire transfers which also went into Oleksa’s personal account, the report states.

Oleksa was taken into custody on Aug. 26 and arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Maureen Coggins, who set bail at $50,000 unsecured. Oleksa was then released from custody, and he has since waived his preliminary hearing.

In total, Oleksa is facing 321 felony charges, stemming from the investigation. Those charges include identity theft, theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, forgery, receiving stolen property and access device fraud.

(All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.)

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