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Michael Marcinek, pictured at far-left, addresses Ansonia city officials about AEPM International's work at a "State of the City" address in 2019. He is accused of withholding wages at the firm.
SEYMOUR – The lawyer for a man accused of withholding over $200,000 in wages over five years says that it’s too late to prosecute him.
Michael Marcinek, 68, of Seymour, was charged with five counts of failure to pay wages in 2024. The charges are felonies.
In an Oct. 18 motion filed to the Superior Court in Derby, his lawyer, Trumbull attorney Patrick M. Mullins, wrote that the statute of limitations has passed.
“The defendant, Michael Marcinek, respectfully notes that the charges brought by the state are barred by the pertinent statute of limitations,” reads the motion, signed by Mullins.
A judge has not ruled on the motion as of Feb. 4.
The charges against Marcinek are Class D felonies. The statute of limitations requires prosecutors to bring charges within five years after an offense was committed.
Marcinek was due to appear in court on Feb. 3 but did not attend.
The court sent him a bail commissioner’s letter the same day. That’s a type of warning, according to the state judicial website, telling a defendant to show up in court.
The Valley Indy left a voicemail for Mullins on Feb. 3. An employee at his law firm said he was attending another trial during Marcinek’s scheduled appearance.
His next court date is March 10.
Background
Marcinek faces five charges of failure to pay wages in connection to complaints raised by employees at AEPM International, an architectural and engineering firm headquartered in Ansonia. He was arrested on May 1, 2024.
According to court documents, at least five former employees lodged complaints with the state Department of Labor claiming that Marcinek had failed to pay them their due wages.
One of the employees, a former IT manager at the firm who was originally hired to prepare the company for an audit, reported that the firm had failed to pay $3.5 million in payroll taxes; that it had failed to pay unemployment taxes and health insurance benefits; that it had bounced checks; and that it had no worker’s compensation policy.
The IT Manager also told the state Department of Labor that he was owed about $119,000 in back wages over a span of about two-and-a-half years.
The criminal investigation followed a series of other investigations that date back to at least 2014.
In 2014, a complaint was raised against Marcinek and five other partners at Marcinek’s old company, Fletcher-Thompson, for failing to honor a stock purchase agreement. In 2015, three different complaints were raised against the company for failure to pay contractors and honor stock purchase agreements.
By late 2016, the Department of Labor had begun investigating complaints of unpaid wages at the firm. According to the arrest warrant, Marcinek met with a state investigator that year and said the firm was experiencing financial hardships, and that“he was waiting for upcoming payments from company clients to cover the cost of wages due employees.”
The repayment hadn’t happened by 2017, when a civil case was brought against Marcinek for about $370,000 in unpaid wages to 14 employees. Ten employees would later be added to the complaint with an additional $300,000 claimed.
That same year, CT Post reported that Fletcher-Thompson was evicted from its Bridgeport offices for failure to pay rent. The firm was also ordered to repay over $2 million in owed money to Webster Bank, according to court records. It moved to offices in Ansonia after the eviction.
A 2019 judgment in the civil case required Marcinek to make monthly $10,000 payments toward unpaid wages.
No payments were made, according to the warrant.
Marcinek, a Seymour resident, is a former member of the town’s economic development commission. He was the chairman of the Seymour Permanent Building Committee, and he was a member of the Seymour Community Center Building Committee.
He was introduced as a key player at the 2019‘Ansonia State of the City’ address, telling the crowd he had 11 projects going in Ansonia. Meeting minutes from 2021 show he represented Ansonia in a presentation to the Derby Board of Aldermen & Alderwomen about a shared senior center.
AEPM International is known formerly as Fletcher Thompson according to state documents. Its projects have included the design of Ansonia’s new senior center on 65 Main St.
Since Marcinek’s arrest in 2024, the case has been continued eight times. He has yet to enter a plea on the charges.
