United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner
Eastern District of California
Galt Man Indicted for Embezzling Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars from Local Company
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | CONTACT: Lauren Horwood |
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March 25, 2011 |
PHONE: (916) 554-2706 |
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www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae |
usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov |
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Docket #: 2:11-CR-00123-KJM |
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced today that on March 17, 2011, a federal grand jury in Sacramento returned a 15-count indictment charging Ruben Rios Jr., 41, of Galt, with wire fraud. The indictment was unsealed today.
According to the indictment, Rios worked as the controller of a local company. A short time after he was hired, and in violation of a company policy that he wrote, Rios began using the company-issued credit card for personal expenses. The indictment alleges that from December 2007 through August 2009, Rios incurred personal expenses using his company credit card to obtain large cash advances from casinos, make car payments, and pay for personal travel, home improvement supplies and services, jewelry, food, personal income taxes, electronics, and all-terrain vehicles. During this time period, Rios incurred charges of between $3,500 and $131,000 per month, totaling more than $800,000.
The indictment alleges that Rios created false monthly statements for his company credit card that showed only business-related charges and excluded the personal expenses improperly incurred by him. He paid the credit card balances by transferring funds from the company bank account into the credit card account.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Sacramento Police Department and the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office, with assistance from IRS, Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jean M. Hobler is prosecuting the case.
If convicted, Rios faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
The charges are only allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
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