A former employee of Milwaukee Tool is now facing serious legal repercussions following allegations of significant theft from the company. Matthew Yang, 31, of Wauwatosa, has been charged with 14 counts, including 11 felonies, after he reportedly used his position to create and delete fraudulent orders, resulting in the misappropriation of more than $1 million in products over a year. According to JSONLINE, if convicted on all charges, Yang could be sentenced to up to 98 years and three months in prison and may be fined a total of $260,000, in addition to forfeiting the funds acquired through his alleged crimes.
This case initially came to light in April when Milwaukee Tool, headquartered in Brookfield, reported suspicious activity to the police. Investigation documents reveal that Yang appears to have cleverly manipulated the company’s ordering system, creating orders that were shipped but not charged for, allowing him to pocket the proceeds from illicit sales. FOX6 News reported that the anomaly was first detected when a shipping company inquired about an unusually heavy delivery to an apartment complex in Wauwatosa, which was linked to Yang’s address.
Yang, previously employed within Milwaukee Tool’s Customer Supply Chain division before moving to IT, allegedly retained intimate knowledge of the order system, which authorities believe he used to his advantage. According to court documents obtained by The Freeman, Yang “manipulated the order system to create orders,” which were then “fulfilled and prepared by the warehouse for shipping.” In total, he is suspected of creating and deleting 115 orders, with 109 of those shipments being delivered, while the company intercepted six shipments, recovering tools valued at $357,684…