A Flowery Branch man has pleaded guilty in relation to a fraud scheme against his employer.
55-year-old Michael Mayfield pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud on Monday.
Mayfield’s scheme involved more than $1 million by stealing rebate checks and submitting false invoices to his company according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Ryan Buchanan’s office.
“Mayfield stole over one-million dollars from his employer related to environmental and recycling programs,” Buchanan said, “He betrayed that trust and demonstrated that he cared more about his personal gain than the faith his employer placed in him.
Mayfield was employed as an environmental manager at the Mars Wrigley factory in Flowery Branch in December of 2016.
The recycled waste that the factory produces is valuable, so companies would often make direct payments or would send Mars Wrigley rebate checks after disposing the material.
Mayfield however would divert those checks to WWJ Recycling, his own company.
Those fraudulently obtained checks equaled out to over $500,000. Mayfield used those funds to pay for huntings trips equaling out to over $100,000, over $200,000 in personal checks, and a donation to his church for more than $80,000.
Mayfield would also have a co-conspirator create false invoices for a supplier of Mars Wrigley, ASA Safety Supply.
The other person would send items to Mayfield for his personal use and then would submit the false invoices from ASA to Mars Wrigley for payment.
The purchased items included football supplies for the Flowery Branch High School football team, tickets to a University of Georgia football game, and gift cards.
Some of the items for Flowery Branch High School included cleats and clothing.
Those false invoices totaled nearly $200,000.
Mayfield also sent invoices from his company — WWJ Recycling — to ASA. The co-conspirator would direct ASA to pay the invoices and then submit falsified ones to Mars Wrigley for payment on work that was not done.
The WWJ Recycling invoices totaled over $750,000.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Huber is prosecuting the case and the case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Mayfield is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 2 at 10 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Richard W. Story in Gainesville.
