As the economy sinks lower, newspaper headlines are abuzz with reports of workplace fraud – embezzlement in the common parlance. Federal prosecutors in Tampa allege that this white collar crime occurred at the Tampa Tribune to the tune of about $1 million over ten years.

Federal investigators claim that former Tampa Tribune credit manager Charles T. Wilson and his wife Lynda used his job to steal the money from both the newspaper and its advertisers. They have been charged with mail fraud in the U.S. District Court in Tampa.

Wilson was employed at the newspaper from 1992 until May 2008. In 1995, he and Lynda started a home-based collection company which had one client: The Tribune. According to court documents, the collection company received almost $500,000 in payments from the Tribune and its parent company, Media General over about 10 years, for services they never provided.

The collection company apparently did legitimate work for the Tribune until 1998. At that point, prosecutors allege, the Wilsons started submitting invoices to the Tribune that Charles Wilson – in his position as a credit manager – approved for payment.

Federal prosecutors also accuse the couple of diverting over 200 checks, worth almost $600,000,that should have gone to Tribune advertisers.

The Wilsons filed for bankruptcy last month. Their Tampa Bay federal criminal defense attorneys successfully negotiated the Wilsons’ release to house arrest on $75,000 signature bond each. The U.S. Attorney’s office is apparently in plea negotiations with Lynda Wilson, who previously worked at a local plaintiff’s personal injury law firm. It will be interesting to see if those plea negotiations involve an agreement to testify against Charles Wilson.

White Collar Crimes

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 9:38 pm and is filed under Florida Criminal Law News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.