United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

FORMER AUTO DEALERSHIP EMPLOYEE
SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON

Mary Ann Urdiales Defrauded Frank Brown Auto
and Truck Ranch in Lubbock, Texas, of $683,696.72

Richard B. Roper, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, announced that today, in federal court in Lubbock, Texas, Mary Ann Urdiales, was sentenced by the Honorable Sam R. Cummings, United States District Judge, to 60 months imprisonment and ordered to pay $683,696.72 in restitution. In October, Urdiales, age 40, waived indictment and pled guilty to a one-count Information charging mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341.

According to documents filed in Court, Urdiales admitted that from January 1998 and continuing through January 2005, she defrauded Frank Brown Auto and Truck Ranch (Frank Brown) of approximately $683,696.72 by using mail fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud schemes. During that time, Urdiales was employed by Frank Brown and was responsible for Frank Brown’s accounts receivable. She had access to Frank Brown’s checks, computers, credit card machines and cash.

Urdiales admitted that she diverted the funds for her personal use and paid her personal bills, took trips, bought clothes for herself and gifts for others. She mailed forged Frank Brown checks to pay her personal credit card charges. She also unlawfully diverted funds by “swiping” her credit card on the Frank Brown credit card machine and creating a credit to her personal credit card accounts. Urdiales also took cash (from the service department, deductible payments, and cashing insurance checks) from Frank Brown and used the credit card machine to make an entry to show that the customer had paid by credit card.

Following audits in 2002 and 2005 at Frank Brown, Urdiales was questioned about the large balances in the Credit Card Accounts Receivable account. Urdiales said that there had been problems with the credit card companies processing the charges and produced checks that she said were from the credit card processing company which brought the balance to zero. The accountant was suspicious and contacted officials at the credit card processing company who advised him that no checks had been made payable to Frank Brown. The checks Urdiales produced after each audit were checks she had made herself on her computer at home.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Denise Williams of the Lubbock, Texas, United States Attorney’s Office.

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