A former IT manager was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing nearly $1 million from a Kent manufacturing company through a years-long fraud scheme involving fake invoices and unauthorized purchases.
Paul Welch, 44, formerly of Laguna Niguel, California, used his position as IT manager to steal more than $950,000 between 2017 and 2024. “This was not a crime of desperation. You used the funds to support a lifestyle you could not afford,” U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead said at the sentencing hearing. Welch spent the money on luxuries including expensive hotels, first-class airline tickets, and a Porsche for his wife as a Mother’s Day gift.
“His theft caused the company to cut staff, reduce or cancel bonuses, and delay projects. These impacts justify this prison term,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. Welch worked for the company from 2011 to 2024 and was promoted to Information Technology Manager in 2018.
Welch’s scheme began with unauthorized Amazon purchases between 2017 and 2023, totaling at least $43,000, mainly for electronics like TVs and laptops for personal use. In 2019, he started using his company credit card for personal purchases at Apple, Alaska Airlines, Instacart, and Best Buy, totaling at least $60,000. Then in January 2021, Welch created a series of email addresses and payment processor accounts using a business name similar to a legitimate computer services company. He used company credit cards to pay the fake vendor, transferring around $879,175 from company accounts to his own accounts between 2021 and 2024.
The company tried to verify the charges multiple times, but Welch provided false or misleading information. When asked to submit invoices, he emailed phony documents designed to look like invoices from the legitimate computer services company. In 2023, an accounting employee identified personal purchases on Welch’s company credit card. Welch claimed the charges were inadvertent and said he would repay the company but never did. In January 2024, company employees confronted Welch about the charges and he was subsequently fired. Between 2017 and 2024, Welch made at least 250 fraudulent charges and 140 unauthorized purchases. Welch has agreed to repay the company.
