A Fresno man has admitted to taking advantage of his employer through a long-running sham that pocketed him a hefty sum. Gabriel Ruiz De Chavez, 46, copped to a single count of wire fraud after devising a fake invoicing ruse that siphoned off more than $1.49 million, as per the office of U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert. Running from 2012 to 2019, Ruiz De Chavez was an operations manager, a role from which he generated fake invoices that mimicked those of genuine vendors.
In a system where checks were issued and ostensibly sent to these vendors, the Fresno local instead made sure they found their way into his personal bank account. Locked behind a curtain of trust, Ruiz De Chavez carried on unchecked, spinning out over 600 counterfeit invoices and checks. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the fraud totted up a hefty $1,491,000 loss for the unnamed employer by the end of the seven-year scheme.
The fruits of this deceit, the office outlined, were funneled to cover Ruiz De Chavez's credit card bills, cash withdrawals, mortgage payments, and even to finance his vacations and car loans. It took a joint operational push by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Fresno Police Department to uncover the deceit. Assistant United States Attorney Cody S. Chapple is helming the prosecution, as the case moves to conclude with sentencing slated for November 6.
The legal repercussions for Ruiz De Chavez appear severe. He stares down the barrel of a maximum 20-year prison term and could be carved out of up to $250,000 as a fine. Still, any penalty will be ultimately at the court's behest, with due heed to statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which are reliant on a smorgasbord of variables, as reported by U.S. Attorney's Office. Undoubtedly, the coming months will see the concluding chapter of a near-decade's deception come to a close.
