After a six-year criminal and civil legal battle stemming from a complaint by her father, Danielle Kolashuk of Oakdale says she’s finally been vindicated.

The New London County State’s Attorney’s Office last month dropped first-degree larceny and third-degree larceny charges against the 55-year-old mother of three.

Norwich police, who investigated the case, alleged Kolashuk had embezzled more than $600,000 from Superior Auto Center, a business in Norwich she said she ran with her father, Ronald Daigneault. She had faced 20 years in prison.

The Feb. 15 decision by state prosecutors not to prosecute the case followed a civil trial in which Kolashuk was able to prove her father’s allegations of theft, forgery, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent concealment and other claims were without merit.

“The facts are the facts and the facts that (Daigneault) stated were completely wrong because we had the documentation to prove it,” Kolashuk said.

Daigneault had sued Kolashuk and her husband Michael Kolashuk, and Michael Kolashuk’s business, Absolute Auto Body, Inc. in New London, claiming in part that Danielle Kolashuk had “looted” the Norwich business and fraudulently used business funds for personal uses such as gambling.

Danielle Kolashuk had always maintained she was part owner of the Norwich business and denied taking any money not owed to her. A judge sided with Danielle Kolashuk in a written decision on Dec. 21, 2023, at the end of a civil trial in New London Superior Court.

Judge Steven D. Jacobs wrote that he did not find Daigneault’s testimony credible, including his assertion that his daughter was not his defacto business partner.

“The evidence indicates that they were every bit a team and that Ronald Daigneault regarded them as a team until Danielle outed her father’s infidelity, prompting him to then deny that they had ever been a team,” Jacobs wrote.

The judge also wrote that expert testimony on Daigneault’s behalf from a forensic accountant used information that was “spoon fed” to the accountant by Daigneault.

“This all happened because (Daigneault) was having an affair with one of his customers,” Kolashuk said. “In 2015 I called him out on it. It was gloves off and war on, all over an extramartial affair.”

“I owned the business with him. I was there for 28 years. That’s a long time,” she said.

Kolashuk was represented by lawyers from New London-based Suisman Shapiro ― attorney Michael Blanchard on the criminal side and attorney Isabel Del Vecchio, assisted by Laura Raymond, in the civil case. Through the course of the criminal case, Kolashuk said the plea bargain offers from state prosecutors had consistently shrunk but that one of the more recent offers to plead guilty was for five years in prison.

“I wasn’t willing to give up the fight because I knew I was right,” she said.

“I think God sent an angel,” Kolashuk said in reference to Del Vecchio, who she called “thorough and brilliant,” in her pursuit of truth in the civil case.

Kolashuk now works with her husband, the owner of Absolute Auto Body, Inc. in New London and does not speak to her father. She said she is recovering from what amounted to an attack on her entire family and an attempt to destroy her reputation.

Daigneault has filed an appeal in the civil case, court records show. Daigneault and a representative from New London-based The Liberty Law Firm, which represents him, could not be reached for comment.

In a statement, Del Vecchio said she was proud to represent Kolashuk “and see that justice was served in this case.”

g.smith@theday.com