GAINESVILLE, Ga. — The U.S. Department of Justice says a Hall County man will serve several years in federal prison after stealing from his employer and defrauding them for more than $1 million.
U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan said Michael Mayfield, an environmental manager at the Mars Wrigley factory in Flowery Branch, diverted checks made out to the company as rebates for disposing of recycling waste to a private company he owned called WWJ Recycling, rather than delivering them to Mars Wrigley.
The details of Mayfield’s actions were presented in court, which showed how Mayfield used some of the funds for charitable donations.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mayfield “fraudulently obtained checks totaled over $500,000″ and used the money to “pay for hunting trips worth more than $100,000, a donation to his church for more than $80,000, and more than $200,000 in personal checks.”
At the same time, officials said Mayfield had a co-conspirator create fake invoices from Mars Wrigley supplier ASA Safety Supply, then had them send it to Mayfield to request payment from Mars Wrigley.
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USDOJ said the “co-conspirator sent the invoiced items to Mayfield for his personal use and then submitted false invoices from ASA Safety Supply to Mars Wrigley for payment. The purchased items included football supplies for the Flowery Branch High School football team, such as cleats and clothing, improvements to the stadium, tickets to a University of Georgia football game, and gift cards. These false invoices totaled over $199,000.”
Invoices from WWJ Recycling, which Mayfield owned, were also sent to ASA Safety Supply, officials said. Mayfield’s co-conspirator then had ASA Safety Supply pay the invoices and submitted fake ones to Mars Wrigley, again for payment for work that was not done, according to the Justice Department.
Officials said the invoices from WWJ Recycle totaled more than $750,000 and that “Mayfield engaged in this scheme from as early as December 2016 until sometime in 2022.”
The USDOJ said Mars ended up paying more than $1.2 million as a result of Mayfield’s fraudulent scheme.
In August, Mayfield pled guilty and was sentenced on Tuesday. He’ll have to serve three years in prison, then three more years of supervised release, as well as pay $1.27 million in restitution.
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