Man working remotely from Michigan City defrauds Ohio-based employer for over $500k

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- Late last week, 48-year-old Joshua Gregg was sentenced to 18 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release after pleading guilty to conducting a string of wire frauds against his former Ohio-based employer for nearly a decade.

According to court documents, from 2011 through 2020, Gregg committed a years-long fraud scheme by claiming and receiving reimbursement for hundreds of thousands of dollars to which he was not entitled. While living in Michigan City, Gregg traveled extensively as part of his job, and fraudulently submitted reimbursement requests exceeding the amount of the travel-related expenses for funds to which he was not entitled.

"From 2011 through 2020, Gregg worked as a vice president for his company out of his home in Michigan City," court documents show. "In his position, he did extensive travel and approved his own expenses. He submitted requests for reimbursement through the company software, and his supervisor in Florida approved the requests."

The Sentencing Memorandum goes on to state that, around June of 2020, the company became suspicious of Gregg’s spending, which was unusually high given COVID restrictions.

"An investigation showed that Gregg had been falsifying receipts and submitting for charges that he never incurred or for charges that were higher than what he actually incurred. Gregg accomplished the fraud by submitting what appeared to be scanned copies of real receipts, but with altered dates and prices," the document states.

"As an example, Gregg pled guilty to altering a September 2019 airline receipt from Chicago to Houston by changing the price on the receipt from $375.30 to $975.30, thus taking $600.00 more than what he paid."

Authorities say the exact amount Gregg stole is uncertain, but the company hired an outside forensic accounting business to determine how much money Gregg stole.

"The forensic business’s conclusion Gregg fraudulently claimed about $1.4 million of the approximately $1.9 million in total reimbursements that he was paid from 2011 to 2020. The parties agree that Gregg stole at least $550,000.00 but less than $1.5 million," court documents state.

Gregg is listed as being from Roanoke, Texas, but was living and working in Michigan City when the crimes were committed. He was also sentenced to pay $175,643.92 in restitution. 

The criminal case comes years after a civil case on the matter was settled in May of 2022 and dismissed a month later in June.

Court documents show that, as a result of the civil case, Gregg agreed to surrender stock and pay $150,000, which he allegedly never paid.