A federal grand jury in Colorado has indicted 31-year-old Julio Melendez on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy, and identity theft. The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado released a statement yesterday, detailing that Melendez is accused of running a payroll fraud scheme. The alleged fraud occurred from March 2020 through November 2020, while Melendez was employed as a project manager at a Maryland-based company providing services to federal government agencies, including janitorial and maintenance work.
The indictment alleges that Melendez and other employees falsified timesheets to receive payment for hours not actually worked, and then kicked back a part of these funds to Melendez. As reported by the U.S. Department of Justice, the company ultimately paid out approximately $82,000 for services that were never actually performed. In his role, Melendez was responsible for supervising staff and managing timekeeping among other tasks, a position which he allegedly exploited to carry out the scheme.
The case is currently under investigation by the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Assistant United States Attorney Tim Neff is handling the prosecution. Melendez, now facing ten counts of wire fraud and aiding and abetting, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft, is presumed innocent until proven guilty. This information comes from an official announcement made by the federal prosecutors handling the case.
