The Blogfather

Googleable: A Tale of Two Houses

That Cape man who allegedly embezzled $5+ million
With a name like Windle, you shouldn't swindle, because you're too "Googleable"

The Windle family's 3-bedroom house (left) purchased in 1996; their current 7-bedroom house in Harwichport (right).

Cape Cod man charged with embezzling millions
   HYANNIS, Mass. - A Cape Cod man has been charged with embezzling millions of dollars from his employer and using much of the cash to buy expensive pleasure boats.
   According to testimony from an FBI agent, Jeffrey Windle of Harwich Port also is suspected of stealing from the Congregational Church of South Dennis, where he volunteered.
   A complaint in U.S. District Court in Boston charges the 41-year-old with fraud.
Prosecutors allege Windle stole at least $5 million from Cambium Learning, a Natick-based provider of education materials for special-needs students. Windle was Cambium’s budget director.It's amazing what ordinary people (like me) can dig up on you if you have a Googleable name like Windle.   By "Googleable," I mean uncommon.   Meaning, if I Google my own name without geographic qualifiers, the results are all about the 12,000 other Julie Brooks in the USA and not about me.  

Fascinated by the story in today's Cape Cod Times about Jeffrey Windle, the 41-year-old resident of Harwich who was arrested by the FBI for stealing millions from his company and is suspected of stealing between $200 - $400K from his church,  the Congregational Church of South Dennis, I immediately began my digital digging.   I was curious about this man's unfortunate family (suspecting that there is no way a man with this much money would be single.)

A search of the property tax assessment records for the town of Harwich for Mr. Windle reveal that his 7-bedroom, 6.5 bath house in Harwich is assessed at $1,895,000 and was purchased in 2004 for $1,904,000 by E & S Realty Trust, located at 346 Trotting Park Road, in Dennis.    A search of the same records for the town of Dennis reveal that Jeffrey Windle and Jeannine Windle purchased the 3-bedrooom, 1.5 bathroom house (complete with lawn jockey) in 1996 for $145,000.

Googling the perhaps unsuspecting Jeannine

Googling the perhaps unsuspecting Jeannine Windle reveals that she was the president of the Ezra Baker School's parent-teacher committee (back when they lived in Dennis) and that the Windles were benefactors of the Harwich Mariners and served as a host family for two players on the Harwich Mariners  (hey, why not use those 7 bedrooms for a good cause.)  Jeannine was thanked in the Harwich Elementary School newsletter  for helping out with a kids' art show.

 Jeannine is also named on the incorporation documents for E & S Family, LLC, incorporated in Florida.   Googling Jeffrey's name, the first search result is in connection with his church he is suspecting of looting, the South Dennis Congregational Church .   However, his name has been scrubbed from the page since Google indexed it.    Also, Jeffrey is mentioned as a defendant in a lawsuit in connection with several boats.

This is certainly a tragic and intriguing (to me at least) story of a man  who  drastically upgraded his and his family's  lifestyle, allegedly through embezzlement, over the course of four years.    Am I the only one with the rudimentary skills required to do the above Googling?  Of course not. Am I the only one who Googled the Windles?  Of course not.    We live in the information age, like it or not, and it's all out there.