VINELAND, NJ – A former office worker at a Cumberland County trucking company admitted this week to embezzling nearly $850,000 from the business, state officials said.
Antwoin L. Brown, 55, of Vineland, pleaded guilty to second-degree theft by deception in a hearing before Superior Court Judge George H. Gangloff on May 11, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said in a statement.
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Brown allegedly wrote hundreds of checks from the trucking company to himself in a total amount of $846,347 from his employer from January 2016 to December 2019. He hid the thefts by logging the checks into company records as payments for fake invoices he created in the names of others, the state said in a news release.
“Antwoin Brown gained the trust of his employer and then he abused that trust for years by stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from him,” said Pablo Quiñones, Chief of the New Jersey Office of Securities Fraud and Financial Crimes Prosecutions. “Our prosecution of Brown should send a message that anyone who embezzles money from their New Jersey employer will be found and prosecuted.”
A state investigation revealed that Brown cashed the company checks at local check cashing facilities and deposited the money into his personal bank accounts in small chunks. The investigation also found that Brown used the funds to pay for personal expenses, including home improvements, automobiles and motorcycles, a pool, credit card bills and personal loans.
“The guilty plea we secured in this case makes it clear that we will not allow this kind of criminal greed to go unpunished in New Jersey,” Platkin said. “We will vigorously investigate and prosecute cases like this to protect businesses from criminal schemes perpetrated by disloyal employees.”
A plea agreement recommends that Brown be sentenced to four years in state prison and pay restitution to the trucking company.
Sentencing is scheduled for October 27.
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