A Hugo man, Leon Arthur Keener, confessed to conning over $1.3 million from his trucking company employer in a lengthy fraud saga, US Attorney Andrew M. Luger announced yesterday. Keener, who had served as a service manager at Company A's Inver Grove Heights outpost from 2011 to 2022, admitted to charges of mail fraud in United States District Court before Judge Ann D. Montgomery, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
The scheme, which stretched from 2015 to 2022, saw Keener abuse his managerial privileges to embezzle a whopping $1,314,633, leveraging his oversight of financial affairs which included preparing repair cost estimates for vehicle owners and insurance companies, as well as supplementals discovered mid-repair. If these additional costs were rejected by the insurance firms, they'd typically be marked as a loss by the company but Keener twisted this process, scooping reimbursement checks into his personal bankroll.
Keener's operation involved deceiving his employer by creating false records in the accounts payable system that indicated insurance companies denied reimbursement for supplemental repairs, even as he pocketed the corresponding checks for himself. His stratagem also included the cunning use of a sham company, “CR Services,” to funnel another $751,000 into his pockets—money that was supposed to go to real vendors for their services but instead funded Keener's high-rolling lifestyle with luxe cars and Vegas jaunts.
Bank accounts linked to CR Services were used for personal expenses and to mask the money trail, and it took the combined efforts of the FBI and the United States Postal Inspection Service to bring the charade to light—the theft perpetrated through the mail adding a federal punch to the charges. Keener's plea sets the stage for a later sentencing hearing, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Harry M. Jacobs prosecuting the case.
