Decipher, Inc. CEO Warren Holland has created a web site explaining his side of the embezzlement case against former VP of Finance Rick Eddleman. Eddleman embezzled $1.5 million during his nine years with the company and pled guilty in the civil case against him in March (see “Guilty Plea in Decipher Case”). He was sentenced to six years of jail time in the criminal case last month (see “Decipher Embezzler Gets Jail”).

 

 “Cindy Thornburg (Decipher’s President) and I want to thank everyone for being so kind to us throughout this challenging time,” Holland writes on his site. “The number of people who have sacrificed in support of Decipher have come from nearly every quarter… vendors, employees, lenders, customers, legal counsel, friends, our parents, and many more. We are very grateful.” He goes on to explain that Decipher will likely never recover most of the $8.9 million judgment in damages from Eddleman who, being jailed, has little way to raise the money. Once released, one-quarter of Eddleman’s salary will be collected by Decipher.

 

The site includes links to four PDFs – the Consent Judgment in the civil case, a victim impact statement, a newspaper article from the Virginian-Pilot, and a 32-page personal letter Holland wrote to his family in June 2007 – as well as a link to a YouTube video from Norfolk’s WTVR that features interviews with Holland, Thornburg, and Eddleman.

 

In the PDF documents, Holland blames Eddleman – who was married to Holland’s sister – for his mother’s depression and his father’s worsening medical condition. “I have more than once witnessed how the betrayal by Eddleman has caused visible changes in my father’s health,” he writes. “Anyone who thinks that Eddleman’s behavior has not taken years off her [Holland’s mother’s] life is deluding themselves.”

 

Holland goes on to talk of Eddleman’s “shocking desire that I be dead” and that he “possess the classic characteristics of a psychopath.” "Eddleman will betray anyone and do whatever irrational thing he deems necessary to cover it up."

 

Despite these acerbic comments, he closes his statement on the site with a positive outlook on the future: “When one experiences an event or series of events we find terrible at the time, there are always good things that come out the other end and turn out to be important changes or enlightenments in the direction of one’s life… I almost never waver from feelings of great appreciation for the positive gifts I experience every day.”