Attorney: No plans to close ‘lucrative’ business
A former employee of Williams Tree Service LLC filed a complaint Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia seeking to prevent the company from erasing a debt she says the company owes her.
Williams Tree Service LLC of Amissville filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on Aug. 29. The company listed 17 creditors in the court filing in Harrisonburg.
Robbie Critzer, 49, of Washington, wants to be included on that list and said she was not given enough notice to come forward as a creditor. In her complaint for judgment, Critzer asserts that Williams Tree Service owes her about $100,000 in unpaid wages, personal funds she advanced to the business and compensation for snow removal.
Gregory Williams, 50, is named in the complaint as the CEO and manager of Williams Tree Service LLC.
The complaint comes as Critzer faces her own pending criminal case in Rappahannock County, where she is charged with eight counts of embezzling funds from Williams Tree Service. On Nov. 24, a two-day jury trial was rescheduled to Feb. 5-6, and one of the eight counts was “nolle prossed” or not prosecuted at this time.
During a bond hearing for Critzer in January, special prosecutor Eric Olsen said the prosecution alleges Critzer was an “accountant” for Williams Tree Service, and was put “in a position of trust” and then “took hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Critzer’s complaint, on the other hand, said the company’s allegations that she stole more than $300,000 from the business “are absolutely false and misleading,” and the company’s CEO (Williams) is pursuing the charges for “vengeful purposes” because she ended their “personal relationship” and “knows where the bodies are buried.”
The attorney handling the Williams Tree Service bankruptcy, Andrew Goldstein, said in an interview Wednesday that some of the issues that led the company to file for bankruptcy stem from the embezzlement of which Critzer is accused.
“Part of the cash flow problems that it incurred resulted from the actions that are being played out in the circuit court. It caused problems with him, with his bank and with some of his creditors,” Goldstein said.
He added that there have been “very strong and positive negotiations” with lenders, and the business reorganization will be successful. He said there are no plans to close the “very lucrative” business as it moves into the busy winter season.
What is Critzer owed?
Critzer claimed Williams Tree Service was hired by the Virginia Department of Transportation to plow snow in the winter, and Critzer worked under the tree service as a subcontractor using her own equipment. The state paid Williams Tree Service, and the company was then supposed to pass Critzer’s share of that money – amounting to “at least $51,863” – to her, according to her complaint.
Critzer claimed in the filing, prepared by her attorney David Konick, that she was never paid her share, and that the funds were used to cover other business obligations, such as $590,000 in federal taxes.
Critzer also claimed she deferred wages and used personal funds for business expenses while working for the company, but was possibly not repaid in full. The complaint accused Williams Tree Service of misappropriating her money and paying employees “under-the-table.”
“For most of her counts, she indicates, within the very lawsuit, that she has been reimbursed for the funds that she is referring to,” Goldstein said.
Her complaint said the parties’ relationship ended in April 2023. Embezzlement charges against Critzer were brought in September and November 2024. The dates of her alleged offenses span from January 2020 to April 2023, according to court records.
