By SDCN Editor
San Diego, CA–A Carlsbad man was sentenced in federal court on July 21 to 21 months in prison for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from a family-owned small business based in New Jersey.
In November 2022, 51-year-old Derek Gleeson, an information technology consultant, pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge, admitting that he charged the small business for IT hardware, software, and services that he never supplied.
He also admitted that he ginned up or altered invoices in an effort to substantiate the fake charges he submitted to the company. According to the plea agreement, when the company grew suspicious and confronted Gleeson about the charges, he installed pirated software on the company’s servers, all to make it appear that he had purchased and installed legitimate software, when in fact he had not. The fraudulent scheme lasted for four years and resulted in over $600,000 in losses. Gleeson lived in Carlsbad at the time of the fraud.
“For years, this defendant took advantage of a position of trust that gave him full access to a small business’s IT system,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “Fortunately, he has been held accountable for the significant impact his crime had on this business and its owners.”