VERO BEACH — An island man who just seven months ago was ordered to pay his former employers nearly $167,000 after a judgment in a civil suit declared that he violated trade secrets laws – has been arrested on criminal charges.
Troy Visser, 44, of Riverway Drive, was booked at the Indian River County Sheriff’s office Wednesday evening after a warrant was issued for his arrest earlier in the day. He was after paying a $10,000 bond once he was fingerprinted and his photograph was taken.
Police arrested Visser on allegations that he perjured himself during the civil court proceedings.
Investigators with the Vero Beach Police Department and the State Attorney’s Office also say that Visser committed stole his former employer’s trade secrets.
Visser was hired from Michigan for $80,000 by Orchid Isle Estates residents Jerry and Claudia Wahl in May 2007 to be the operational manager of the couple’s boutique insurance agency Statewide Insurance.
Over the years, Visser’s salary swelled to more than $200,000 by the time he abruptly resigned in May 2010.
Visser opened his own agency Universal Condominium. He claimed that he started that business which is now on A1A from scratch after he left the Wahl’s business.
Civil Court Judge Cynthia Cox didn’t find Visser’s statements to be credible nor have police who discovered the suspect had been making arrangements for months before his sudden resignation to start his own business.
Authorities say he was able to do that by stealing client information from Statewide’s databases and then recruiting many of those clients to his new business.
