A former corporate executive from Cohoes has been sentenced to serve between four and 12 years in state prison following the multi-million-dollar theft of funds from his former employer. The extensive embezzlement scheme, which spanned nearly eight years, was carried out to finance a severe crack cocaine addiction.
The sentencing took place in Albany County Court, where 62-year-old Kevin Stevens appeared before Judge Christopher Maier. Stevens, who previously served as the chief financial officer at A.E. Rosen Electrical Co., had entered guilty pleas in June to felony charges of first-degree grand larceny and identity theft.
Alongside the handed-down prison sentence, the court formally mandated that Stevens make full financial restitution to the electrical contracting business he defrauded. The monetary judgment seeks to account for the millions siphoned away from the commercial enterprise over the course of his prolonged tenure in the executive role.
According to the Albany County District Attorney's Office, the legal action against Stevens represents the single largest grand larceny case ever prosecuted in the history of the county agency. The sheer scale of the financial loss highlighted both the prolonged nature of the illicit operation and the high level of fiscal authority Stevens had exercised within the firm.
An extensive inquiry conducted by the New York State Police revealed that the systemic embezzlement took place between 2017 and 2025. Over this eight-year period, Stevens methodically diverted company assets totaling approximately $4.2 million through several sophisticated and deceptive accounting maneuvers.
Investigators uncovered that the underlying driving force behind the multi-million-dollar fraud was Stevens’s struggle with substance abuse. Prosecutors detailed how the executive utilized company funds not for luxurious personal assets, but to continually purchase crack cocaine, creating an escalating cycle of theft to maintain his illicit habit.
To facilitate the transactions without drawing immediate suspicion, Stevens devised an intricate method involving corporate payment tools. Prosecutors established that starting in 2017, the former CFO began using company-issued fuel cards to purchase various retail gift cards rather than legitimate transportation supplies.
Once acquired, Stevens negotiated the exchange of these commercial gift cards directly for illicit narcotics. Prosecutors noted that Stevens knowingly purchased cards that carried higher monetary values than the street prices of the drugs he obtained, using the excess value to secure the transactions with dealers in lieu of direct cash handoffs.
In addition to the fraudulent card transactions, Stevens exploited his executive privileges by writing and issuing company checks directly to himself. This allowed him unhindered direct access to the organization's liquid bank accounts, funneling vast sums of money directly under his personal control.
To keep the ongoing losses concealed from company ownership and corporate monitors, Stevens systematically manipulated the firm's financial records. Authorities revealed that he routinely submitted falsified fiscal documentation and deceptive accounting reports directly to the enterprise’s external accounting firm, successfully masking the ongoing deficits for years.
During his sentencing proceeding, Stevens addressed the court to convey his profound remorse, offering formal apologies to his family members, personal acquaintances, and former workplace colleagues whose trust had been compromised by his actions.
In his address to the court, Stevens directly linked the entirety of his criminal activity to his chemical dependency. He stated that the crimes were committed solely to fuel his narcotics addiction, emphasizing that the compulsive drug abuse had fundamentally altered his character and destroyed the person he had previously been.
Judge Maier addressed Stevens during the bench proceedings, remarking that he found encouragement in the constructive steps the former executive had already initiated to confront his destructive behavior and work toward rehabilitation prior to his formal incarceration.
The judge shared guidance on the psychological aspects of recovery, referencing the familiar adage that an individual is "only as sick as your secrets." Judge Maier stressed that establishing and rigorously maintaining a completely honest, sober support network serves as the crucial remedy for overcoming deep-seated personal and behavioral challenges.
Following the public announcement of the criminal sentence, representatives for A.E. Rosen Electrical Co. did not immediately provide a formal public statement regarding the court's judgment or the mandated restitution package.
With the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, Stevens begins his state correctional term, concluding a historic regional financial fraud case that dismantled a senior executive's career and demonstrated the devastating financial impact of prolonged corporate deception.
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