Man pleads guilty to scheme to embezzle $500K from employer

DENVER (AP) - A Highlands Ranch man has pleaded guilty to mail fraud in connection with a scheme to embezzle more than $500,000 from his employer.

The Denver Post reports (https://goo.gl/7pu7HJ ) 60-year-old Keith Alan Franz entered his plea in federal court on Tuesday and is scheduled to be sentenced July 13.

From 2008 until June 2014, Franz was the director of tax with Pendum LLC, an ATM equipment company. Prosecutors say he diverted $530,985 in tax refund checks sent to his employer into bogus accounts he had set up and exclusively controlled.

Mail fraud carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.

The FBI and the United States Postal Inspection Service investigated the case.

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Information from: The Denver Post, https://www.denverpost.com