A California man was sentenced to two years and nine months in federal prison for embezzling nearly $1.6 million from the Fresno-based trucking company where he worked for 15 years.

Once released from prison, Gabriel Ruiz De Chavez, 47, of Fresno, who served as operations manager for a small trucking firm, which was not named in court filings, will serve three years of supervised release.

In July, Ruiz De Chavez, 46, of Fresno, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

His attorney, Nicholas F. Reyes, did not respond to FreightWaves’ request for comment.

U.S. District Court Judge Troy L. Nunley also ordered Ruiz De Chavez to pay nearly $1.6 million in restitution to his former employer, which has a fleet of approximately 22 trucks that haul agricultural products.

What happened?

Federal prosecutors say that over a seven-year period – between 2012 and 2019 – Ruiz De Chavez used his position to generate over 600 fake invoices, purportedly created by genuine vendors for goods and services. Court filings state that Ruiz De Chavez presented these fake invoices and corresponding checks made out to the real vendors with his employer’s signature and then deposited the checks into his personal bank account.

“It was through this close relationship with the owners, coupled with his duties as an operations manager — especially concerning his duties involving invoicing — that Ruiz De Chavez was placed in a position of trust that enabled him to perpetrate his scheme to defraud undetected for so long,” court documents state.

Prosecutors say the theft was uncovered by the trucking company’s owners after an independent audit found that Ruiz De Chavez had deleted 10 years of accounts payable records for 2010 to 2020. According to court filings, the former operations manager “knew about the audit and quit” before it was completed in June 2020.

“He used the funds to pay for personal expenses including credit card payments, cash withdrawals, mortgage payments, vacations, and car loans,” according to court filings.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s sentencing memorandum claims that Ruiz De Chavez’s theft had a “significant and negative impact on his employer.

“The victim company had to take out loans during the period between 2012 and 2020 to maintain cash flow because of the theft,” federal prosecutors stated.

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