Accounting clerk pleads guilty to swiping $1.1M from carrier

According to court documents, Roberto called Comdata and EFS to authorize checks, which she referred to as “fuel expenses,” then after obtaining the authorization codes for the checks, she filled in the dollar amounts, ranging from $400 to $975 per check. After making the checks payable to herself, she deposited them into her personal bank account. 

MVT, which has more than 1,650 power units and the same number of drivers, paid Comdata weekly via wire transfer to Comdata’s bank account in Alabama.

To cover up the fraud, Roberto “modified the transactions” from the sponsored race car drivers’ accounts at MVT and “spread them out over regular truck drivers’ cash advance accounts,” according to court filings.

She said MVT terminated her employment in 2018 after discovering her embezzlement scheme. 

IRS wants its share

In addition to wire fraud, Roberto also falsified her income tax returns by failing to report the embezzled funds to the IRS, according to the court documents.

Court filings claim that in 2017, Roberto embezzled $217,260, but only reported $31,932 as taxable income to the IRS.

She faces up to 20 years in prison and must pay restitution totaling over $1.1 million to MVT and more than $250,000 to the IRS. Roberto’s sentencing date has not been set.

Click for more FreightWaves articles by Clarissa Hawes.

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Also, check out the latest episode of our true crime podcast here: Profits drive log fraud in trucking — Long-Haul Crime Log