KENT, Wash. — A 44-year-old California man was sentenced to a year and a half in prison for stealing more than $950,000 from his Kent-based employer.
Paul Joseph Welch was the IT manager of a Kent energy manufacturing company when prosecutors say he used various schemes to steal more nearly $1 million from the company.
At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead said, “This was not a crime of desperation. You used the funds to support a lifestyle you could not afford.”
“Mr. Welch stole nearly $1 million from his company to pay for luxuries such as expensive hotel stays, first class airline tickets, and even a Porsche for his wife as a Mother’s Day gift,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “His theft caused the company to cut staff, reduce or cancel bonuses, and delay projects. These impacts justify this prison term.”
According to records in the case, Welch worked for the company from 2011 to 2024. He was promoted to Information Technology Manager in 2018.
As early as 2017, Welch used the company’s Amazon business account to make unauthorized personal purchases from Amazon.com.
Between 2017 and 2023, those purchases totaled at least $43,000. Welch primarily purchased electronics such as televisions, laptops and more—all for personal use, according to the court.
In 2019, Welch began using his company credit card for personal purchases through other online retailers such as Apple, Alaska Airlines, Instacart, and BestBuy. Between 2019 and 2024, those unauthorized personal purchases totaled at least an additional $60,000.
“The scheme really accelerated in January 2021 when Welch began making payments to himself disguised as payments to a computer services company. Welch created a series of email addresses and payment processor accounts using a business name that was very similar to a legitimate computer services company based in Washington State. Welch then used the company credit cards to pay the computer services company under the guise that the company was providing IT equipment and services to the victim company.
However, the legitimate computer services company had no relationship with Welch and never provided any services or equipment to the victim company. The credit card payments Welch made went directly to the payment processor accounts that Welch controlled. Between 2021 and 2024 Welch used this scheme to transfer approximately $879,175 from company accounts to his own accounts," the court said.
When Welch was asked to submit invoices to substantiate his charges, he emailed phony documents designed to look like invoices from the legitimate computer services company.
In all, between 2017 and January 2024 Welch secretly made at least 250 fraudulent charges for the third-party vendor he controlled. He made at least 140 unauthorized purchases with retailers using the company credit card and at least 100 fraudulent purchases on the company’s Amazon account, the court said.
At sentencing, Welch agreed to make full restitution to the company.
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