PITTSBURGH - An Allegheny County resident pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of mail fraud, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.
Anthony Allen Aubrey, 50 of White Oak, PA, pleaded guilty to one count before United States District Judge Nora Barry Fischer.
In connection with the guilty plea, the court was advised that Aubrey was a trade show manager for Phillips Home Healthcare Solutions (PHHS) responsible for setting up venues and hiring vendors for everything from carpentry to food. He had a good working relationship with Carpenter Connection (CC) and at Aubrey’s request CC would pay vendors and individuals on behalf of PHHS who could not be easily paid through the PHHS system due to timing and administrative issues. In turn CC would be reimbursed by PHHS. Aubrey developed a relationship with Melissa Dougherty and hired her to assist with some of the trade shows. However, the relationship became romantic and Aubrey began to request additional payments for her for services she did not perform or had already been paid for. He created and/or inflated Dougherty’s invoices on his company laptop to support the fraudulent payments. He asked CC by email to issue checks to her and have them overnighted by FedEx. One of those checks forms the basis for Count One. When an audit revealed discrepancies and Aubrey was questioned, he admitted what he had done and cooperated fully. The loss to PHHS was $376,603.
Judge Fischer scheduled sentencing for July 29, 2016. The law provides for a total sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed is based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Assistant United States Attorney Nelson P. Cohen is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.
The United States Postal Inspection Service conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution of Anthony Allen Aubrey.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
