A Riverside man was sentenced to 2 years in federal jail after pleading responsible to stealing a whole lot of hundreds of dollars in money and luxurious presents for himself — together with worldwide flights, tickets to Coachella and a scorching tub — along with his tech-support firm’s bank card, then trying to cowl up the purchases.
The U.S. Division of Justice stated Matthew P. Hernandez carried out the fraud scheme towards the corporate he labored for, San Diego-based tech help agency Networks 2000, for seven years. In that point, they stated, he paid himself simply over $356,000 in additional paychecks and merchandise purchases.
Hernandez, 46, agreed to plead responsible to 4 counts of wire fraud in August 2021. A decide sentenced him on Friday. As a part of the sentence, he was ordered to pay again the $356,000 he stole.
Along with his tasks over the corporate’s payroll, accounts payable and bonus dispersal methods, Hernandez would make the checks out to his private financial institution accounts however change the names within the Community 2000’s books to different corporations they did enterprise with, in keeping with the plea settlement, thereby “making the fraudulent funds look reputable.”
“Hernandez had unfettered entry to the agency’s books and data and authority to signal checks on the agency’s behalf,” prosecutors wrote in a press release. “In his managerial position, Hernandez stole from the agency a whole lot of instances.”
Over seven years, that meant Hernandez despatched himself checks work greater than $35,000. He used wire transfers to pay his personal bank card payments price greater than $100,000. And with the corporate bank card, Hernandez purchased greater than $138,750 price of things for himself.
In response to the Lawyer Common’s Workplace, these purchases included live performance tickets to the Coachella music competition, airline tickets to the Dominican Republic, and a scorching tub price $3,500. Prosecutors additionally stated Hernandez purchased “a house fitness center, a knife set, (and) a TAG Heuer racing watch.”
It’s unclear from the indictment how Hernandez was in a position to cowl up the bank card purchases particularly.
The scheme continued till January 2017, when Hernandez overdrew $10,000 from the corporate’s checking account.
The fee went to a USAA account that Hernandez instructed the corporate belonged to one in all their purchasers. The truth is, Hernandez owned it.
“The agency extensively reviewed its books and data, recognized Hernandez’s fraudulent purchases and transactions, and offered that info to federal regulation enforcement,” officers stated in a press release. “The agency’s efforts to determine Hernandez’s fraudulent conduct took years to finish and was instrumental in shifting the investigation and prosecution ahead.”