Man to plead guilty to stealing $193,000 in credit card scheme

A former employee of a Williamsburg business that provides mechanical maintenance for utility companies is charged with stealing over $193,000 from the company.

Jeremy Lee Murphy will plead guilty to one count of wire fraud Tuesday in U.S. District Court. Murphy, a former scheduler with Crossroads Mobile Maintenance, is accused of using a company credit card to steal or misappropriate money for personal use, according to the information filed Monday.

Murphy scheduled maintenance for vehicles owned by Crossroads' customers, the information said.

Crossroads, a subsidiary of Utility Supply and Construction, with headquarters in Michigan, provided mechanical maintenance services for vehicles owned and operated by utility companies and other companies with fleets of vehicles. Many times the vehicles would be sent to outside vendors.

According to the information, the scheme to defraud started about April 24, 2013, and continued through Aug. 14, 2014, as Murphy charged at least $193,375 in expenses that were not legitimate on Crossroads' credit card.

Murphy established an email account for a fictitious company, J & N Truck Services, on April 24, 2013, and he applied for a merchant processing account, according to the information. That allowed him to process credit card transactions.

Murphy created fictitious invoices from J & N for services rendered and used the fake invoices for billing, according to the information. He created the invoices on his company computer, paid the invoices using his company credit card and submitted the invoices to Crossroads. The money from the credit card payments, minus the processing fees, was deposited into Murphy's bank account.