Waterloo man pleads guilty to embezzling over $339K from St. Louis County firm
A Waterloo man on Thursday admitted in federal court to embezzling $339,844 from his former employer in St. Louis County.
Ronald Scott Miller, 54, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark to one count of wire fraud and admitted using several schemes between March 27, 2014, and Sept. 29, 2020, to steal the money, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Miller is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 28. The wire fraud charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.
Richard Sindel, the defense attorney for Miller, said he hopes that during the sentencing phase that the judge “looks at (Miller’s) entire life” and “not just a snapshot.”
Miller was the warehouse and labor supervisor for a floor covering business known as S.F.C. in St. Louis County, according to an indictment.
“Miller submitted false timesheets for himself, his partner and his son. His partner did not work for the company, but Miller submitted timesheets anyway, then collected the paycheck and forged his partner’s signature to deposit it in his own account,” the news release stated.
“Miller falsely inflated the hours worked by his son without his son’s knowledge and did the same for himself by claiming he was working on installation projects when he was not,” according to the prosecutor’s statement.
Miller also submitted fraudulent invoices in the name of two fake companies, claiming he had made purchases there, the release states.
While Miller pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, he had been indicted on four counts of the charge and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to court records.
The FBI and the Maryland Heights Police Department investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case.
