Former Walker Machinery Branch Manager Pleads Guilty To Federal Fraud Charge

Mark R. Trump stole $90,000 in rental fees owed to the company

BECKLEY, W.Va. – A former branch manager for heavy equipment distributor Cecil I. Walker Machinery Company (“Walker Machinery”) faces up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty yesterday in connection with a scheme that bilked a total of more than $90,000 in rental fees from the company, announced United States Attorney Booth Goodwin.  Mark Randall Trump, of Cool Ridge, Raleigh County, W.Va., pleaded guilty to wire fraud before United States District Judge Irene C. Berger in Beckley. 

In 2009 and continuing up until his dismissal from Walker Machinery in April 2012, Trump, 43, a branch manager at Walker Express, the company’s full-line rental service store based in Crab Orchard, W.Va., began offering certain customers special rates for equipment rentals without the company’s authorization. An investigation revealed that during the scheme, Trump was paid directly, often by cash or personal check, by certain customers for numerous equipment rentals.  Trump later deposited the fraudulent payments into his personal checking account.  To conceal the scheme from Walker Machinery, Trump entered the customer data into the company’s system and printed a matching rental agreement form. However, upon the return of the equipment, Trump made entries into the company’s records indicating that the rental had been cancelled, deleted from the computer system, or not invoiced at all.  Trump also failed to process the receiving paperwork through Walker Machinery’s service department, as required for all company rental transactions. 

In total, Trump took approximately $90,000 in rental fees owed to the company for his personal use.  As a result of the fraud, the company incurred a loss of approximately $367,000.        

Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on April 17, 2014.   

The investigation was conducted by the West Virginia State Police and the FBI.  Assistant United States Attorney Blaire Malkin is in charge of the prosecution. 

This case is being prosecuted as part of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia’s Business Protection Initiative.  U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin announced the Business Protection Initiative in November 2010.  Business protection is a primary initiative of the U.S. Attorney’s Office that focuses on prosecuting individuals who defraud West Virginia businesses.