Florida Man Pleads Guilty In $1.3 Million Theft From Lab

The US Attorney’s office in Tampa on Friday announced that David Alan Smith of Wesley Chapel, Florida has pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft. Smith was the facilities manager for the Tampa laboratory of Quest Diagnostics, Inc. Beginning in 2001, he created fake shell companies which he controlled, submitted fake invoices to Quest seeking reimbursement for expenses, and obtained approval for the payments by forging the names of two supervisors. He obtained almost $1.2 million in payments to his shell companies and over $100,000 in additional unauthorized expense payments. Smith could face a maximum of 124 years in prison; no sentencing date has been announced. Bizjournal here, DOJ press release (.pdf) here.