Embezzlement plot involved scrap metal sales

Four employees of a North Carolina-based scrap firm with a satellite location in Virginia have been indicted and accused of selling scrap metal that belonged to their employee and of keeping the proceeds for themselves.

According to an online news item from the Roanoke Times in Virginia, the four employees of United American Steel took part in the alleged scheme from 2013 to as late as early 2017.

Investigators in Franklin County, Virginia, have accused the four men of taking more than $380,000 in scrap sale proceeds from their employer. The subsequent indictment includes 194 embezzlement accounts, according to the newspaper.

The news report says the four men sold the metal to a ScrapCo Inc. facility near Rocky Mount, Virginia, while using company vehicles. The investigation started after United American Steel contacted the sheriff’s department in Franklin County to report discrepancies in its deliveries in Virginia.

According to the Roanoke Times, “Deputies questioned four suspects, and three of the four confessed to embezzling from the company,” receiving checks from ScrapCo made out to their names rather than to United American Steel.