A Von Ormy man has admitted he wrongly accepted greater than $432,000 in unearned payroll funds as a part of a rip-off perpetuated on the household of one of many area’s largest unbiased trucking contractors.
Mario Martinez, 49, is the sixth individual to plead guilty within the case, leaving his girlfriend, Veronica Rios, because the lone defendant within the scheme that diverted greater than $1.4 million from Texas Chrome Transport Inc. and its associated arm, MJR Truck Lines Inc.
Court data present Rios, 43, was an administrative director who processed payroll as a part of her duties. In 2017, the court docket paperwork allege, she began overpaying staff in trade for among the overpayment. Later, Rios additionally added non-employees to the payroll who gave Rios a part of the funds they obtained. Among these was Martinez, who by no means labored for the corporate.
Martinez obtained greater than $432,000 in payroll deposits. He had been charged with three counts of wire fraud, however pleaded guilty to a single depend as a part of a plea deal.
RELATED: SAPD cops allegedly obtained bribes from San Antonio trucking firm Texas Chrome Transport Inc.
The paperwork present that, between 2017 and 2020, Rios overpaid firm worker Pedro Guillen, 49, greater than $424,000. Rios additionally overpaid worker Tommy Byrum greater than $140,000 between 2018 via 2020. Rios additionally paid her daughter-in-law, Amanda Hernandez, greater than $30,000 after Hernandez had left the corporate in May 2019.
Prosecutors allege considered one of Rios’ associates, Maira Vargas, obtained $30,000 in payroll funds, and one other pal, Guadalupe Alsidez, received $200,000. Neither ever labored for the corporate.
Guillen, Byrum, Hernandez, Vargas and Alsidez have all pleaded guilty for his or her roles, data present.
Texas Chrome Transport’s web site stated the agency was began in 1975 by Raul Mendez Sr. as Mendez Trucking and he and his household grew the enterprise, making it one of many largest unbiased trucking contractors in Texas.
Since 2011, the corporate has hauled fracking sand to oil websites throughout Texas, and has 215 models in its fleet, the web site stated.
The Mendez household additionally runs Texas Chrome Shop in Atascosa, and its members are featured in Texas Trocas, a Spanish language actuality collection for Discovery en Español about tricked-out semis.
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