Richard Allen Clark, Embezzlement, North Carolina 2023

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A former office manager in Lenoir, North Carolina, has been charged with embezzling over $1 million from his former employer.

Richard Allen Clark, 55, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud, one count of money laundering, and one count of making a false statement on his tax return.

According to court documents, Clark used his position as an office manager for two family-owned businesses in Lenoir to embezzle more than $1 million from his employers between 2013 and 2019.

Clark admitted to using the United States mail to carry out his scheme, and to laundering the funds he embezzled by withdrawing customer funds from the company’s bank account through multiple fraudulent checks payable to himself.

He then deposited the stolen funds into multiple personal bank accounts and used them to pay for his personal lifestyle, including making payments for his home mortgage, auto loan payments for an F-150 truck and other vehicles, installing a home theater system, and paying for traveling and shopping expenses.

Clark also admitted to filing a false U.S. income tax return for tax year 2018 by deliberately failing to claim the additional income he stole from his employers.

According to the indictment, Clark falsely declared only his legitimate W-2 income on his 2014 through 2018 U.S. Joint Income Tax Returns, resulting in approximately $195,000 in lost taxes to the United States.

Clark pleaded guilty to mail fraud, which carries a maximum prison term of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine; money laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine; and making a false statement on his tax return, which carries a maximum term of three years in prison and a $100,000 fine per count.

Acting U.S. Attorney William T. Stetzer thanked the IRS-CI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Caldwell County Sheriff’s office for their investigation which led to the charges.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Savage of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte is prosecuting the case.

The case was investigated by the IRS-CI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Caldwell County Sheriff’s office.

Clark is scheduled to be sentenced on April 17, 2024.

Defendant: Richard Allen Clark

Criminal charges: mail fraud, money laundering, making a false statement on his tax return

City and state: Charlotte, North Carolina

Exact date: April 17, 2024

Sentence or outcome: pending

Dollar amounts: $1 million, $195,000

MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS

White Collar Crime

Denise Miller Almanza, Tax Fraud, Pennsylvania 2023

Nov 7, 2014

White Collar Crime

Van Natta, Wire Fraud, Indiana 2012

Jan 15, 2012

White Collar Crime

James Clayton Wolf, Organic Grain Fraud, Minnesota 2021

Jan 13, 2023

White Collar Crime

Russell Edwin Wagler, Embezzlement and Obstruction, Iowa 2016

May 12, 2016