A man received a 21-month prison sentence Friday in federal court for embezzling $600,000 from a family-owned New Jersey business while he lived in Carlsbad, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced.
Fifty-one-year-old Derek Gleeson, an information technology consultant, pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge.
Gleeson admitted that he "charged the small business for IT hardware, software, and services that he never supplied," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release. "Gleeson also admitted that he ginned up or altered invoices in an effort to substantiate the fake charges he submitted to the company."
According to plea agreement information, the New Jersey company became suspicious and confronted Gleeson about the charges.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
He then installed pirated software on the company's servers, "all to make it appear that he had purchased and installed legitimate software, when in fact he had not."
The U.S. Attorney's Office said Gleeson continued the fraudulent activities for four years while he lived in Carlsbad. According to the office, Gleeson also lived in Round Rock, Texas.
U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said that for years, "this defendant took advantage of a position of trust that gave him full access to a small business' IT system."
Videos
"Fortunately, he has been held accountable for the significant impact his crime had on this business and its owners," said Grossman, who credited prosecutors and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents for their "excellent work" on the case.
