AMARILLO, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – Two Amarillo men pleaded guilty to wire fraud on April 13, 2022 after defrauding a cattle feed supplement manufacturer out of more than $474,000, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.
Philip Ian Thomas, 41, and Hadley Lane Jones, 30, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to court documents, the pair admitted that they defrauded Westway Feed Products, LLC, a liquid feed supplement company.
The company hired Thomas to manage its Dimmitt, Texas plant in October 2014, giving him the discretion to approve repair and maintenance projects costing up to $3,000.
Two years later, he and Jones devised a scheme in which Thomas would create and approve fraudulent invoices for work Jones purportedly but did not actually perform.
In November 2016, Thomas asked Westway’s accounting department to add Jones as an approved contractor. He then created two invoices for welding that he said Jones performed, one for $1,490 and another for $1,200.
In reality, Jones had performed only a single project listed on the first invoiced, a welding job itemized at $495. Thomas knew this, but stamped and signed the contracts anyway. Westway’s accounting department then paid the invoices. When the $2,690 transfer reached Jones’ bank account, he immediately withdrew $2,000, which he gave to Thomas.
The scheme continued into March 2020 as Thomas and Jones repeatedly submitted fraudulent invoices to Westway’s accounting department. The company paid out the money to Jones, who then split the cash with Thomas.
Jones even created a sham business, “Elite Welding Service,” to make the invoices appear more legitimate.
In total, Thomas fabricated invoices detailing jobs Jones supposedly performed cost Westway more than $474,429. With the exception of a single $5,000 invoice, Thomas set all of the invoices at or below the $3,000 approval limit, avoiding scrutiny by upper level management.
Thomas and Jones face up to 20 years in federal prison. The sentencing date has not yet been set.