Businesswoman Sentenced for $1M Fraud and Embezzlement Scheme

NORFOLK, Va. – A Chesapeake businesswoman was sentenced today to 42 months in prison and ordered to pay over $1 million in restitution for engaging in a fraudulent rental agreement scheme and embezzling monies entrusted to her for postage.

According to court documents, Tonya Saxby, 46, owned and operated Mail Solutions of Virginia LLC, which was an authorized dealer for Neopost (now Quadient), a mail, shipping and document solutions company in Connecticut. Neopost manufactured mail processing equipment that it leased through rental agreements to customers throughout the United States. In her capacity as an agent for Neopost, Saxby negotiated equipment rental agreements with Ferguson Enterprises, a company headquartered in Newport News, Virginia. In order to get business with Ferguson Enterprises, Saxby negotiated agreements with it for monthly rental payments that were significantly lower than Neopost’s pricing guidelines, knowing that Neopost would not have approved them. She created 82 false and fraudulent rental agreements, forged the signatures of Ferguson Enterprises employees onto them, and sent them to Neopost. Neither Neopost nor Ferguson Enterprises were aware of the fraudulent rental agreements.

According to court documents, Saxby earned $91,707.29 in commissions to which she was not entitled. When Neopost discovered the fraud, it reclaimed and disposed of the equipment it had delivered to Ferguson Enterprises, resulting in a loss to Neopost of $801,634.46. Saxby also embezzled monies provided to her by customers for the purpose of purchasing postage from the U.S. Postal Service to load onto postal meters installed on their equipment, resulting in a loss of $38,544.32 to the U.S. Postal Service, which had already loaded the postage. Saxby embezzled an additional $91,112.21 from customers that entrusted her with money to purchase postage.

The total loss sustained by victims as a result of Saxby’s fraud was $1,022,998.28.    

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Karl Schumann, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; and Peter R. Rendina, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan M. Salsbury prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:20-cr-20.