Former Central Valley Resident Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Steal Building Materials from a Tulare County Company

FRESNO, Calif. — David Theron Ross, 64, of Sparks, Nevada, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud as part of a two-person scheme to defraud a homebuilding company of building materials worth up to $1.5 million, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.

According to court documents, between March 2021 and December 2023, Ross and Eduardo Jara, 37, of Lindsay, conspired to defraud a construction company of building materials. Jara utilized his role as Assistant Purchasing Manager of the company to order building materials. Ross, a forklift driver for the same company during parts of the conspiracy, would pick up the materials to sell to local companies and share the proceeds with Jara. Jara would then complete the required purchase orders, purchase receipts, and purchase invoices to fictitiously show that the building materials were obtained by the company. This paperwork was turned into accounts payable and submitted to the company’s headquarters in Troy, Michigan, for payment. The company would then pay their supplier based on the fraudulently created documents.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chan Hee Chu is prosecuting the case.

Jara pleaded guilty on April 20, 2026, and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 27, 2026, by U.S. District Judge Kirk E. Sherriff.

Ross is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Sherriff on Aug. 24, 2026. Both defendants face a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. 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.