A San Antonio-area man pleaded guilty to accepting $432,000 in an unearned payment budget as a scam against Texas Chrome Transport Inc. trucking company.
Mario Martinez, 49, is the sixth user to plead guilty in the scheme that embezzled more than $1. 4 million from Texas Chrome Transport, founded in Atascosa, Texas, and a similar company, MJR Truck Lines Inc. Atascosa is 22 miles south of San Antonio
Texas Chrome Transport has 208 drivers and 208 powertrains, for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The company, founded in 1975, transports fracking sand to oil fields across the state.
The scam was allegedly introduced in 2017 through Martinez’s girlfriend, Veronica Rios, who remains the only defendant, according to the documents.
Rios, 42, administrative assistant and payroll administrator at Texas Chrome Transport. In 2017, according to authorities, it began overpaying the company’s workers in exchange for part of the overpayment.
Rios also reportedly added non-employees to the payroll who gave him a portion of the bills they received. Among them, Martinez, who never worked for Texas Chrome Transport or MJR Truck Lines.
Prosecutors say that from 2017 to 2020, Rios overpaid corporate worker Pedro Guillen with more than $424,000 and worker Tommy Byrum with more than $140,000. Rios also paid his daughter-in-law, Amanda Hernandez, more than $30,000 after Hernandez left Texas Chrome Transport in 2019.
Prosecutors allege Rios paid Maira Vargas $30,000 in payment bills and Guadalupe Alsidez $200,000. Neither has worked for either company.
Rios, Martinez, Alsidez, Guillen, Hernandez and Vargas were arrested in April 2021. It is not known when Byrum was arrested.
In addition to Martinez, Guillen, Byrum, Hernandez, Vargas and Alsidez have also pleaded guilty. The sentence was set in August.
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