In what appears to be an audacious scheme, a Minnesota man has been indicted for pocketing more than $140,000 from the fast-food titan he was tasked with overseeing. Timothy Michael Hill, Jr., a Woodbury resident and former Chik-fil-A franchise manager at the Minneapolis airport, faces charges of wire fraud following a meticulous U.S. Attorney's Office probe, as official court documents reveal.
Employed by The Grove, Inc., Hill's job included the responsibility for collecting and depositing daily cash earnings securely. However, between September 2022 and October 2023, the entrusted manager allegedly helped himself to these funds. Instead of securing the cash deposits as he was obligated, he allegedly lined his pockets with the earnings meant for safekeeping, according to the indictment. To cloak his illicit maneuvers, Hill reportedly misused subsequent cash flows to give off the delayed deposits' false semblance of being merely delayed – not stolen.
Fast Food Manager Charged with Wire Fraud for Embezzling More Than $140,000 From Employer https://t.co/6Y4S7ZvhXP @FBIMinneapolis
— U.S. Attorney MN (@DMNnews) February 6, 2024
Hill's lavish expenditures included jewelry purchases, online sports gambling, and payments on the adult platform Only Fans. In a brazen abuse of digital transactions, he sent thousands via CashApp to colleagues, exchanging cash for personal photos and videos, evidently caught in the web of his fraudulent designs.
Fringe benefits for the criminal mind came at a hefty price, with Hill accused of siphoning a substantial $144,000 from his employer over 13 months. The FBI, alongside the Minneapolis Airport Police Department, brought this high-flying embezzlement case into sharp relief. Hill, who stands now before the justice system, has his initial court appearance slated for February 14 according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew C. Murphy will be prosecuting what's shaping up to be a sordid tale of greed and deception at the expense of shiny airport eateries. And while Hill has been charged with five counts of wire fraud, it's a staunch reminder in the legal arena: an indictment is no conviction, and he remains innocent until the gavel falls with a verdict of proven guilt.
