Tracy Cox, Wire Fraud, Indiana 2024

HAMMOND, Indiana - A local woman has been ordered to pay a significant sum in restitution after being convicted of wire fraud.

Tracy Cox, 52, of Hammond, Indiana, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, 2 years of supervised release and ordered to pay $381,759 in restitution for her role in a wire fraud scheme.

According to documents in the case, Cox used her position at a Gary, Indiana trucking company to defraud her employer between May 2011 and July 2018.

Cox created approximately 400 unauthorized transfers, diverting over $381,759 for her own use. She devised a scheme in which she entered the payment system and authorized a series of check numbers to make them available for use by truck drivers.

She then obtained the authorization codes for the checks, made them payable to herself, and filled in the dollar amount or obtained a cash advance. To cover her scheme, Cox altered years of bank statements to hide the true balances.

“When an employee takes advantage of an employer’s trust to steal for the employer, the consequences can have a trickle-down effect for the employer and the other employees, costing jobs and causing economic hardship,” said United States Attorney Thomas L. Kirsch II.

“Abusing the trust of your employer to further your own selfish and fraudulent scheme will not be tolerated by the FBI,” said FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Paul Keenan.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Philip C. Benson.

Cox was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Philip P. Simon.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndin/pr/hammond-woman-ordered-pay-381759-restitution