A man who cheated his employer out of over $400,000 was sentenced April 15, 2010, to more than three years in federal prison.

Marty John Hess, 37, from Dubuque, Iowa, received the prison term after a January 8, 2010, guilty plea to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.

At the guilty plea, Hess admitted he worked for a building supply company and faxed the company false invoices for 31 loads of rebar and then received checks for the rebar. He deposited the checks from the rebar into his personal bank account and then occasionally obtained cashiers checks from the illicit funds to pay down the charges from the false invoices to prevent discovery of his fraud. The fraud involved a loss to the company of over $400,000.

Hess was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Hess was sentenced to 37 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $200 was imposed, and he was ordered to make $465,132 in restitution. He must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Hess was released on the bond previously set and is to surrender to the United States Marshal on a date yet to be set.

The United States Attorney’s Office works to ensure victims are made whole as quickly as possible and is seeking the public’s assistance in locating or identifying Hess’s assets. If anyone has information regarding Hess’s assets with a significant value, they are urged to call 319-731-4080.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger and investigated by the United States Secret Service and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR09-1021-LRR.

Return to Top