A co-owner of a small trucking company has admitted to defrauding one of her clients out of millions of dollars. Now she faces up to 40 years in prison.
Stoney Creek Trucking LLC of North Branch, Michigan is co-owned by Lorie Ann Stuer and her husband, William. One of the over-sized carrier’s main clients was Bandit Industries, a manufacturer of large wood processing machinery like wood chippers and stump grinders.
Starting in 2011, Steur began fraudulently inflating the invoices that she sent to Bandit. In the first year, they were billed an additional $4,850. No one noticed. Every year after, the amount was inflated until finally the company was billed an extra $1.47 million in just one year. In total, Stuer managed to take the company for $3.65 million.
According to the Morning Sun, Bandit finally caught on late last year thanks to an internal audit of trucking costs and reported their suspicions to authorities. After a criminal investigation, Stuer was arrested in May and charged with three counts of false pretenses totaling $1,000,000 or more, three counts of using a computer to commit a crime, and three counts of fraud for obtaining signature with intent to defraud.
This week Stuer pled guilty to three counts of larceny by false pretenses, each count for varying amounts. For the crimes, she could serve a total of 40 years in prison. According to the county prosecutor in charge of the case however, it is likely that Stuer will be ordered to repay $3.3 million and serve between 36 and 60 months in prison.
Stuer is the only one facing criminal charges in the case. She claims that her husband and co-owner didn’t know about the fraud.
Source: morningsun, morningsun, abc12, wnem
Mighty weak on time real weak
My kind of women
greed!! It will get you everytime
Not only that but I’ll bet her husband figured out what she was doing and told her if you get caught your own your own.
Lori Ann Stuer was the only person charged and convicted, but the picture shows a guy behind bars. Or maybe Lori Ann is a tranny . . .
I know Brother, I said that too..
Well, since she took all the blame, the hubby gets to keep the company.
If that company that got cheated settles for restitution they need a new chairman. There are or should be several other damages they can sue for and more or less sue them out of business. That was intentional, not an accident.
More times than not it usually tends to go the other way
That’s a strong case, And the employees were probably paid low. 15 years in prison additional 10 years for low wages income for employees…
Federal Mail Fraud and Federal Income Tax Evasion ?
You know Uncle SHAM wants his cut.
SHES A GONER.
There’s no Federal Income Tax Law and there never has been.
IRS is operating unlawfully and illegally.
Nothing worse than a thief
Let that witch rot in prison!!
It’s hard to believe no one else knew.
No it’s not. All depends on how things were set up. I know that when we had our company, I could have done something similar and my husband would have never known.
If you know anything about Bandits business practices ,they Damn well deserve what she did to them.
Bandit got robbed by a woman 😨? How lame. Shame on you Bandit for not living up to your reputation.
It’s just a picture to satisfy the idea of jail or prison..its the same guy when pilot and flying j had they scandal…
You would think a more thorough audit would have cought it sooner??…
Sounds,like bs,to me or some really dumb financial people
Wouldn’t a more thorough audit would have cought it sooner??…
…I mean, I’m just saying.
Who say’s a woman can’t make money.
Not so sure some of the blame shouldn’t be on the company she was hauling for. Was nobody checking invoices to see if they were getting the services they paid for ?
Govt gets ripped off all the time, by people like this ,takes months to figure out
Bandit machenry was in meetings and couldn’t be bothered.
Went from 5k to over 1.47 million in one year? Hard to believe she got caught with such tiny incremental increases over the years…She should do the 40, and that know-nothing hubby of hers should be hooked up to the polygraph machine, and have everyone stand back when the needles fly off the machine and smoke burns up the transistors… or whatever they use. People are so lucky that lie detector results aren’t admissible in court!!
To serve 36 months for a couple of million if she was smart she better had saved it
There’s a lot of fraud and dishonesty in the trucking business people need to get their story together with the honesty and trying to create good honesty when it comes to trucks mechanic issues with the vehicle Is this is are in it together weather is stay finance mechanics or different Truck centers
There’s a lot of fraud and dishonesty in the trucking business people need to get their story together with the honesty and trying to create good honesty when it comes to trucks mechanic issues with the vehicle Is this is are in it together weather is stay finance mechanics or different Truck centers
I can’t believe that her husband is innocent. What kind of idiot can not know that trucking isn’t THAT profitable?
Bandit must have had a terrible Book Keeper
Since when is inflation illegal? I thought anyone could charge whatever they pleased to do business? Unless of course it’s that they ended up being billed a higher amount than what they had signed for, on the loads that were hauled.
They should check into the truck schooling scheme checking into CRST Trucking. They promise you a job and then try to get you to quit or fire you so you have to pay for schooling. Then they blackmail by not letting you make payments and get another job driving so you can pay them. The Federal government should check into them.
So you got fleeced and got fired well I know a little bit about all of these companies that do lease purchase and the one thing I know you have got to be a real screw up to get fired they don’t just fire people the fire
Let me guess ? Gambling at the nearest Indian casino.
Bandit got held up.
I wonder how she spent that money, or did she open an account under the radar maybe she planned to leave her husband and live in Belize, or some country the doesn’t have extradition, that the other company didn’t do their due diligence to go through the books, trusted the wrong company, might need to hire a book keeper that will look out for their best interest
What, somebody not honest in the trucking business, I don’t believe it!
Yes unfortunately trucking has sank into the dregs, so many ripoffs everywhere its hard to find a company that is honest these days : (
” Just guessing that the Company ( trucking ) was started and funded by Government loans and subsidies under SBA that were drew in the wife’s name ! “
I.think there are many greedy people in trucking. And too many ways to cheat. Hubby didn’t know? A likely story.
you would think they would be checking there bills or invoices every month and their outgoing money in there checking account. I check mine every week or sometimes every day or 2 and I only have a household to worry about.
When she get to jail she’s gonna be lez chow
For every one they catch, there’s probably a dozen that get away with it.