Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | August 24, 2026 | Worcester Business Journal 7 tial, a Lancaster-based firm Rise- borough alleges was formed to use Turtle's confidential client informa- tion, designs, and resources to poach clients and divert business. e three, plus Lopez, are also fac- ing a civil lawsuit from Riseborough. Attorneys representing Caron, Mahon, Troest and Lopez declined comment. e Middlesex District Attorney's Office did not respond to a request for comment. Warning signs Riseborough founded the firm in 2001 aer building cars in his youth and attending Boston University Col- lege of Fine Arts as a sculptor. His big break came in the late 1990s, when he connected with a company called Jackrabbit Design and landed a job converting five Land Rovers into devil-horned, green- skinned vehicles for Monster.com. "ose monsters were all over the country," he said. "It was a godsend." e project put his work in front of agencies nationally, and he le Jack- rabbit to build vehicles on his own. Riseborough's reputation grew further aer a chance encounter with the Bootmobile at the Head of the Charles Regatta, where he asked han- dlers if he could test the doors, which Riseborough says is the hardest part of building a custom vehicle. One handler, noting his familiarity with the process, asked if he'd done this kind of work before. A week later, the Bootmobile was in his shop for a rebuild, the start of a relationship that produced two more boot vehicles. By 2010, Riseborough had hired Caron, Mahon, Lopez, and Troest. e four would go on to hold some of the company's most senior roles. In 2016, he purchased the building Turtle Transit had been using as its headquarters for $1.45 million, ac- cording to Town of Hudson property records. e company had around 25 employees by that point. Beyond the boot, builds completed by Turtle Transit included an Oscar Mayer food truck inspired by the company's Wienermobile, a dou- ble-decker bus for soccer club Sport- ing Kansas City, and a virtual reality dugout for the Red Sox. By 2021, Turtle Transit appeared to be rebounding from the pandemic. Riseborough said the company was in a position to do as much as $6 million in business that year. at fall, Los Angeles market- ing agency Havas Street expressed interest in acquiring the company. Riseborough, Caron, and Troest drove to New York City to meet with Havas Street's leadership, where Caron told the prospective buyer he was consid- ering starting his own company, a disclosure that shocked Riseborough. Havas Street backed away from discussions of a sale within weeks. Dark Horse rises Around the same time, Risebor- ough said major client jobs began falling apart under Mahon's supervi- sion, including one that caused Turtle Transit to miss a deadline for the first time in company history. In fall 2022, Riseborough asked Caron to dra a formal business plan to make sense of the company's declining sales. He quit the following week instead, Riseborough said. By September 2023, Troest had worked remotely for an extended stretch before relocating to Florida. When staff tried to process payroll in her absence, Riseborough said none of the passwords worked. He hired Marlborough-based forensic accoun- tant Denise Cataldo to dig deeper. Cataldo's review, which later informed a law enforcement investi- gation, found Troest had embezzled roughly $800,000 from the company between 2016 and 2023 through pay- roll manipulation, forged checks, and personal credit card charges, accord- ing to a court filing by the Middlesex District Attorney's Office. "I would meet with her every Monday," Riseborough said. "We'd go through cash receivables, expenses. But Kim was just really good at hiding that stuff." Aer she le the firm, Risebor- ough found out Troest, then known as Kimberly Barrett, had a record of the-related convictions: Middlesex Superior Court records show she pleaded guilty in 2002 to multiple larceny and conversion counts and received 10years of probation, while a separate Worcester County case resulted in guilty pleas in 2011 on six larceny counts and an order to pay $278,898 in restitution. Riseborough said the gravity of the situation became apparent when Cat- aldo found a credit application listing Troest, Caron, and Mahon as partners in Dark Horse Experiential. As the business unraveled, Risebor- ough and his wife withdrew retire- ment funds and personal savings and borrowed from friends. In January 2024, he sold the Hudson headquar- ters for $2.7 million. Legal cases In June a Middlesex County grand jury indicted Troest on 11 counts, Caron on two counts, and Mahon on one count. e Middlesex District At- torney's Office alleged in court docu- ments Troest embezzled approximate- ly $800,000 from Turtle Transit, and she and Caron committed mortgage fraud by submitting a falsified income verification letter to a lender. e office alleges Troest, Caron and Mahon conspired to defraud the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance of tens of thousands of dollars by falsely claiming Caron and Mahon had been terminated from Turtle Transit, when in fact they were already working for a company they jointly owned. Lopez has not been charged crimi- nally, though she remains a defendant in the civil case. Riseborough and Turtle Tran- sit filed a civil complaint July 8 in Middlesex Superior Court against Troest, Caron, Mahon, Lopez, and Dark Horse Experiential. Both the district attorney's office and Risebor- ough's civil complaint allege the four former employees secretly formed their company while still working for Turtle Transit. e 14-count lawsuit alleges embez- zlement, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, trade secret misappropriation, defamation, and violations of the state's unfair business practices law. Riseborough said he was under the impression Dark Horse and its em- ployees thought they were in the clear. "I don't even think they even know what's going on," he said. "I think they believe they've gotten away with it." 800-939-9103 cornerstonebank.com Member FDIC | Member DIF Scan the QR code to connect with us. More Than Half of Businesses in the U.S. Reported Fraud in the Past Two Years We Can Help with Positive Pay Positive Pay is the leading fraud-prevention solution designed to help protect your business against altered, forged, or counterfeit checks and ACH debits clearing your account—with the convenience of reviewing and acting on decision items right from online banking or the mobile app. In 2025, we protected our business customers from over $250,000 in fraudulent transactions, and we're just getting started. W PHOTO | COURTESY OF JAMES RISEBOROUGH L.L. Bean and Dunkin' are among the prominent clients of Turtle Transit.

• Cover