Chad Michael Saeugling, 40, of Asbury, Iowa, is headed to federal prison for 78 months after admitting to stealing more than $400,000 worth of goods from the Peosta warehouse where he worked as a supervisor. The thefts, which spanned from 2009 to August 2014, were carried out with cold precision—Saeugling exploited his access to inventory systems and company shipping channels to quietly siphon off high-value items and sell them on eBay, all while erasing the digital trail.
Saeugling didn’t just steal—he weaponized his position. As a trusted supervisor at the warehouse between 2004 and 2014, he had unrestricted access to inventory and outbound shipments. He listed stolen merchandise on eBay, then shipped them by slipping them onto UPS or FedEx trucks bound for legitimate deliveries. To cover his tracks, he manipulated the computerized inventory system, falsifying records to make it appear the items had never existed. Over half a decade, he funneled hundreds of thousands in illicit profits into his personal accounts.
When the scheme began to unravel, Saeugling didn’t come clean—he doubled down. In late 2014, he arranged to buy a house from his own father and lied to a federally insured credit union about his income to secure a mortgage. He claimed his father had gifted him $22,000 for the down payment. The truth? Saeugling handed the cash to his father, who routed it through two separate bank accounts before writing two $11,000 checks back to his son—creating a fake paper trail to defraud the lender.
At sentencing in Cedar Rapids, U.S. District Chief Judge Linda R. Reade didn’t hold back. She called Saeugling a man who “spit in his employer’s eye” and dragged his father into criminal conduct. She rejected his excuse that a bank official told him to launder the funds, calling the claim “fabricated” and branding Saeugling as having “no credibility” and “no conscience.” The judge emphasized that only the courage of a single coworker—who flagged suspicious activity—halted what would have likely been an ongoing fraud operation.
Saeugling’s betrayal didn’t stop at theft and fraud. While out on bond, he violated release conditions by illegally possessing firearms and ammunition—items he was actively selling to coworkers at the same warehouse he’d already betrayed. Judge Reade labeled him an “extremely high risk to reoffend,” a damning assessment that factored into the stiff 78-month sentence. He was also slapped with a $300 special assessment and ordered to pay $423,025.52 in restitution to his employer’s insurer.
Saeugling now sits in U.S. Marshals custody, awaiting transfer to federal prison. There will be no parole—just time to reflect on the wreckage he left behind. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Vavricek and investigated by the Dubuque County Sheriff’s Office. Court records are filed under case number 16-CR-1023-LRR in the Northern District of Iowa. A full five years of supervised release will follow his prison term—assuming he ever learns the meaning of accountability.
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Key Facts
- State: Iowa
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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