A 38-year-old Florida man who defrauded the company he worked for to the tune of $790,600, was sentenced to five years and five months in federal prison for bank fraud and wire fraud and has been ordered to pay restitution of $790,600 and $839,305.30 as forfeiture.
Richard Barrett Dale Walker, from The Villages in Sumter County, Florida, had pleaded guilty on June 23, 2020. He was found guilty of defrauding a local business where he worked as a part-time manager and was paid $500 per week. He was responsible for managing the finances of the business and paying its bills. Walker also owned two companies—RBD Distributors LLC and Shotgun Shooting Supply LLC—which he made part of his scheme.
The Modus Operandi
Walker carried out his scheme in two parts according to court documents. In the first, Walker wrote himself and his two companies using the business's bank account between January 2014 to July 3, 2018. These transactions were carried out without the authorization of the business. Collectively, he wrote over 500 checks, each ranging from $145.89 to $16,981.03. Each of these checks contained the forged signature of the business owner.
Between March 19 to July 3, 2018, Walker enacted the second part of his scheme. During that period, he used the corporate and personal credit cars of the business to charge $301,328.65 in unauthorized and fraudulent credit card transactions, which were made to his company, RBD Distributors. Occasionally, Walker made payments for the credit card transactions by initiating a transfer of writing a check from the business' account that he had access to.
Covering Up His Crimes
In order to cover up and hide his fraudulent scheme from the business' owner, he took elaborate steps. One of which included the changing of the business' mailing address for the credit card statement from its real location to that of his relative. This was done to ensure that the owner did not receive any of the statements.
Additionally, he also included himself as the Treasurer" of the business by forwarding an annual report to the Florida Secretary of State that he had that position with the company, falsely representing his role. He also added his phone number and email to an account for the business' corporate card and added an email ID to another corporate card of the business.
