Nicholas Petasek appears in Brown County court, August 21, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Nicholas Petasek was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for stealing about $150,000 from two former employers to help feed a gambling habit.
Petasek, 33, previously pleaded no contest to theft in a business setting. In one case, prosecutors said he stole about $50,000 from Anduzzi’s on the east side of Green Bay, and in the other he took more than $100,000 from the Bellin Hospital cafeteria.
He was also placed on extended supervision for five years by Judge Marc Hammer. After he is released from prison, Petasek must pay $200 per month in restitution for five years – although the judge noted that will only be $12,000 for the victims.
Before the sentence was issued, Petasek apologized.
“This is something entirely out of my character. I’m upset with myself, and I’m sure my mom shares that same level upsetness. I just want to be given the opportunity to pay them back what I took wrongfully from them,” Petasek said.
According to the criminal complaint, Petasek worked as general manager of the Anduzzi’s location until April 2022. That’s when, according to the criminal complaint, the bar’s owners told police they discovered about $25,000 missing from bank deposits and roughly $25,000 missing from the bar’s ATM. They believed the money had been stolen over the course of several months.
Then, between January and June of 2023, Petasek worked as a manager in Bellin’s Food and Nutrition Department. Security officials noticed that about $101,000 that was recorded was never taken to the bank to be deposited. A review of security video showed Petasek removing money bags from a safe, moved to an area where the camera’s view was obstructed, then walked out wearing a backpack.
Police say they found empty money bags from Bellin Health in Petasek’s bedroom.
They also found receipts from Oneida Casino. Records from the casino showed that Petasek gambled nearly $30,000 from his account at the casino between January and August, with a significant dropoff beginning in June, when Bellin officials began monitoring his activity at the safe.
The complaint says after being confronted in August, Petasek wrote a letter of apology to Bellin and he was fired.
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