A
former branch manager for heavy equipment distributor Walker Machinery has
admitted to stealing tens of thousands of dollars in rental fees from his
employer.
According
to a release from U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin’s Office, Mark Randall Trump,
43, of Cool Ridge, pleaded guilty Wednesday to wire fraud.
According
to the release, from 2009 until the termination of his employment in April
2012, Trump offered certain customers special rates for equipment rentals
without the company’s authorization. Those customers would then pay Trump,
either with cash or a personal check, for the rentals and he would take the
money and deposit it into his personal account.
To
cover the scheme up, Trump entered the customer data into the company’s system
and printed a matching rental agreement form. But when the equipment was
returned, he would make entries into the company’s records indicating that the
rental had been canceled, deleted from the computer system, or not invoiced at
all.
The
release states that Trump defrauded the company out of approximately $90,000 in
rental fees. As a result, it was calculated the company incurred a loss
of approximately $367,000.
During
the scheme, Trump was a branch manager at Walker Express, Walker Machinery’s
full-line rental service store based in Crab Orchard.
Trump
faces up to 20 years in prison when sentence on April 17, 2014.
