The owner of a now-shuttered carrier has been charged with hundreds of counts of theft after it was discovered that he allegedly stole money from the retirement accounts of his 100+ employees. When one of his employees confronted him about money missing from his retirement account, the owner allegedly asked “You’re that upset about $15,000?”
According to the suit brought against him, Timothy Kephart, owner of Kephart Trucking, allegedly took money out of his employee’s paychecks that was intended to be put into their 401(k) retirement accounts or used to pay insurance premiums, but instead the money ended up in the company checking account or in Kephart’s own pocket.
Because of his failure to pay his employees’ insurance premiums, the insurance company retroactively cancelled their insurance coverage, forcing many previously insured workers to pay medical bills that should have been covered.
In an interview with WJAC, a former employee stated that he had noticed money being taken from his 401(k) account before, but it had always been replaced with interest. The last time it happened however, the money wasn’t replaced and the company went under. By that time Kephart had allegedly stolen about $329,000 from his employees over the course of three years. According to employees, Kephart used the money to construct a $300,000 barn at his personal residence.
Kephart is currently in prison serving out a 46 month sentence he received for participating in a $3.6 million check kiting scheme.
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Source: wjactv, theprogressnews, gantdaily
Image Source: offroadvegan
46 months — $3.6 million… works out to about $78,260 a month. Not bad work if you can get it.
Would someone care to tell me what the differences might be, if any, between what this owner did and what the federal government does with the Ponzi scheme known as “Social Security”? The only difference I can see is the 401k was probably voluntary while SS is such a great program it has to be made mandatory.
Ponzi scheme? No.
Here is what The Economist (not, by any means, a left-leaning publication) has to say: http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/09/social-security-0
Here is what the Motley Fool says:
http://www.fool.com/retirement/general/2012/10/15/5-huge-myths-about-social-security.aspx
Forbes says this: http://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2011/09/08/no-governor-perry-social-security-is-not-a-ponzi-scheme/
Jude your right, Social Security has become very much a Ponzi scheme where so many draw disability checks who paid very little into the entitlement. But here we have a private business owner
who simply misused employee contributions that were far more detrimental per employee. We simply see here greed taking over and not caring for his employee’s. At least with Social Security, you can be confident in that our government will do something to protect our investment in retirement. I doubt anyone at this trucking firm received much money back from their 401K account.
Lot of dirt bags running businesses these days.
Confident…In the Government??? LMAO!!!
Give advance notice of his release on all the trucking blogs!
I was once told that these trucking companies didn’t get rich by being honest. The first deception is getting paid zip code to zip code instead of hub miles. The we get paid pennies and in reality we could get paid nickels instead. I have found out that the lower paying ccompanies give me the miles. But on other hand these companies that say they pay higher and home every weekend give no miles. So I stay with lower pay. This os why driver retention is so bad. U give up one thing they get u some where else. And far as social security when I graduated a few years ago my teacher told us that when I get ready to retire social security will not be there for me. And if it do survive it will be my grandchildren paying for it. Caz the government is robbing Peter to pay Paul. And hard working Americans like myself that actually needed social security at one time couldn’t get it. Just because the government say im educated and young enough to find employment even though doctor’s say that I was disabled at the time. I hate those employees will never get their money that they earned for retirement. My dad always said that we are out here working tooth and nail and it seem like the richer is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer. C’est la vie (that’s life)
If drivers said ‘no’ to the current pay offerings, companies would have no choice but to increase pay. So stop working for peanuts.
I’d be waiting for him when he gets out . I’d probably to to jail, but he’d go to a grave. Or at the least , I could harvest his organs to sell on EBay to recoup the money he stole from me. Anybody know what the going prices for kidneys , heart , eyes, spleen, or liver are now ? Or maybe just the pleasure of beating him ?
The prisons are so packed full. Remember these words, “I am being threatened, and I fear for my life and safety.” Repeat them while you have the 911 dispatcher on the phone as you confront this dirtbag. What you choose to do from there is your business. Like I said the prisons are full. A nasty assault charge might get you 30 days and time served or house arrest at most for 6 months. Make that call and say those words before the police show up. Nice way to CYA. Can’t transplant a spleen. If the scumbag smokes they can only use his eyes. Make sure something useful is left behind. I’d rather be tried by a jury of my peers than to wait for the cops while some POS tries to get into my house. Next time, they can bring a shovel to scoop up what remains.
My BF wants to go to truck driving school. He’ll be 50 in March. I had a job secured for him that paid $42 an hour but he didn’t want to work in an office anymore. The truck is his office. He is naive and feels that the recruiters he has spoke with have all been honest and have no reason to lie. They get paid for each warm body they bring in. Of course they will tell you what you want to hear. The school he is going to gets lil bumps for referrals. I’m a nurse. I know about recruiters. I knew the underbelly before I went to school. He knows nothing about this industry except what recruiters have told him. If he were 25, I’d be more supportive. He’ll be 50 with some health issues that can’t be ignored. They don’t check those things with a DOT physical. Sorry for the rant.
Most of you guys are great and respect the road. I wish many motor vehicle drivers had respect for you. He isn’t happy that I turned a company in because of an incident with a truck. They ended up fining the company 50 grand. The violations were all the same. No E-logs. They found someone to sing and they kept 2 books. The drivers were running exhausted and one almost killed himself and ran other cars off the road. It took 14 miles and 5 municipalities to stop the truck. The driver was falling asleep at the wheel. I turned it in and followed it through. NO ONE should be doing in excess of 85 mph no matter what you are driving. Now the trucks are set and cant do more than 65 mph. They haul HAZMAT. Thank God his trailer was empty that night. Greed to the ultimate if a company is willing to risk drivers and other lives to make those bucks. NOT worth it. The drivers deserve more respect. Maybe the company will learn a lesson. I doubt it. Lots of similarities between nursing and truck driving. There used to be standards. Now both industries are desperate and will take anyone except certain felons.
Wow, is anyone really shocked? Seems as if we are reading more and more stories about this type of thing. First it was the former C.E.O of Arrow, now this crook. I’m willing to bet that the higher ups beh8nd New Century and Jevic Transportation also did something similar to this. How do you have trucks on the road one day, then the next just abruptly shut down operations and tell your drivers that they are suddenly out of a job and to turn their trucks in without some kind of explanation? These crooks knew their operations were in danger of folding up, but instead of doing the d3cent thing and advising their employees to start seeking future employment, they keep working them to put money in their pockets then let the company go belly up, and leave drivers and lease purchase dummies out to dry. Are ther any honest people in this industry anymore?
Jevic was owned by Yellow Freight, which unfortunately survived (narrowly) due to union concessions. They even had to sell their headquarters building outside Kansas City. There are many outfits that struggle daily but are actually run by honest people. For some reason the transportation business attracts thieves, liars and crooks by the hundreds. I’m happy any time one gets caught.
I was a nurse for over 20 years. Never let the word “non-profit” fool you. They are all out to make a profit. I know how sleazy healthcare has gotten. My mother is having a hip replacement next week. I can’t be with her 24/7 so I bought her a pen that is actually a body camera. Picks up audio and video. I don’t trust anyone. I certainly don’t trust a 20 year old nurse that just graduated, telling me that the meds she was giving my mother were much better than what she had in the ER. I asked her to leave the room and get the doc that wrote those orders. They should be afraid of me. The pens are called Treks and I got them on Amazon. They were about 20 bucks each. Would be nice for all of you to have when you go into an office and the boss is less than stellar. If they fire you for no reason, you have them. They will be in trouble and you will get paid. Just want to help people out. The pen does write. Quite nicely too.
Talking about Arrow trucking, the CEO James Pielsticker was not done when he screwed all the o/o ‘s at Arrow. He started Cruz Transportation, another brokerage of which I was a victim. Did an oversize load for him complete with permits and escorts and never got paid. Last I heard he was going to jail for a LONG time for his part in the Arrow fraud….yippee, there is justice sometimes. A word of advice to all who deal with brokers….if you don’t know them, take 5 minutes and type their name into Google….all their skeletons will jump onto your computer screen.
You have to be careful who you do business with in the transportation industry. Brokers are taking anywhere from 33 to 66% of the load pay. Coyote and DIno’s are two of the brokers you have to keep your fingers crossed when you do a load for them. Coyote will come up with some crazy paperwork they want before you get paid but won’t tell you until the due date has past.
He was probably trying to diversify by raising animals. Its too bad he got caught. Now all of his people are set to really take it in the shorts its always the feeble minded old farts that wreck it for everybody . He probably had a greedy moment chasing 15000 and now he has screwed himself out of the whole bit. ( the trucking company probably runs in the red ) employees always get to thinking trucking companies have money ,they dont see all the expense in it.
“You’re that upset over $15,000?”
If that’s not a huge red flag right there, I don’t know what is.
That’s when you lawyer up, put a lien on the truck and all your loads become COD.
Never give the keys to a $125,000 truck to a person you pay $1000/week to and owe over two months pay. He’s lucky the guy didn’t just drive the truck to Mexico.
LMAO!
When you don’t get paid…stop working for them…This industry is just full of give away artists..
Every time you work and don’t get paid…someone else is getting paid without working!…
Great. We all will get hit for $80K a year to warehouse this idiot in prison. The employees will still end up with the short end of the stick. This is why there is still a provision in the U.S. Constitution that allows for indentured servitude by criminals. Make this idiot work at a labor intensive job until every employee has been reimbursed, plus 50%. The government gets its pound of flesh from this moron, but the government was not wronged. So much for the modern “justice” system.
Social security a ponzi scheme? What’s better that or investing it with banksters on Wall Street who steal your money much like this guy and when they mess up are bailed out with tax payer money and serve no jail time. You see some in Washington want you to think it is Ponzi scheme so they can steal it and give it to their criminal buddies on Wall Street remember Bush wanting to privatize it? I don’t want a country full of homeless elderly people social security has worked for decades if you don’t like it MOVE
… bravo. Couldn’t have said it better myself.