Former IT manager sentenced for stealing nearly $1 million from Kent company

A former IT manager was sentenced to prison for stealing nearly $1 million from a Kent company.

Paul Welch, 44, will spend 18 months behind bars for wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington announced Thursday.

Welch, who previously lived in Laguna Niguel, California, was the IT manager at a Kent manufacturing company and used various schemes to steal more than $950,000.

“This was not a crime of desperation. You used the funds to support a lifestyle you could not afford,” U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead said at the sentencing hearing, according to the attorney’s office.

Welch used the money to pay for luxuries, such as expensive hotels, first-class airline tickets, and even a Porsche for his wife as a Mother’s Day gift, according to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd.

“His theft caused the company to cut staff, reduce or cancel bonuses, and delay projects. These impacts justify this prison term,” Floyd stated.

Welch worked for the company from 2011 to 2024 and was promoted to Information Technology Manager in 2018, according to records in the case.

Welch’s scheme starts with unauthorized Amazon purchases

Between 2017 and 2023, Welch used the company’s Amazon business account to make unauthorized purchases on Amazon, which totaled at least $43,000. He mainly bought electronics, such as TVs and laptops, for personal use.

In 2019, Welch started using his company credit card for personal purchases at Apple, Alaska Airlines, Instacart, and Best Buy. Those purchases totaled at least $60,000.

Then, in January 2021, Welch started making payments to himself disguised as payments to a computer services company.

“Welch created a series of email addresses and payment processor accounts using a business name that was very similar to a legitimate computer services company based in Washington,” the attorney’s office stated. “Welch then used the company credit cards to pay the computer services company under the guise that the company was providing IT equipment and services to the victim company. However, the legitimate computer services company had no relationship with Welch and never provided any services or equipment to the victim company.”

The payments went directly to accounts that Welch controlled, and between 2021 and 2024, Welch transferred around $879,175 from company accounts to his own accounts.

The company tried to verify Welch multiple times, but each time Welch provided false or misleading information.

“When Welch was asked to submit invoices to substantiate his charges, he emailed phony documents designed to look like invoices from the legitimate computer services company,” the attorney’s office stated. “At one point in 2023, an accounting employee at the victim company identified personal purchases on Welch’s company credit card. Welch claimed the charges were inadvertent and said he would repay the company. Welch never repaid the charges and continued to defraud the company through unauthorized personal purchases and more fake vendor charges.”

Employees confront Welch in 2024, and the company fires him

In January 2024, company employees confronted Welch about the charges. Welch claimed the vendor was a real vendor for the company, and he was subsequently fired.

Between 2017 and 2024, Welch secretly made at least 250 fraudulent charges and at least 140 unauthorized purchases.

The attorney’s office noted that while Welch made around $950,000, the company lost about $982,520 due to fees on the transactions.

“As an information technology manager, Mr. Welch held a position of trust with his employer, which allowed him access to business accounts and the company credit card,” W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office, stated. “Welch betrayed that trust by stealing almost $1 million from the company through years of fraudulent transactions for his own personal gain.”

“Despite being confronted about his illicit expenditures multiple times, Welch disguised his schemes with false documents or by saying he didn’t intend to make the charges. When such theft occurs, the FBI diligently follows the money to ensure fraudsters are held accountable for their crimes,” he continued.

Welch has agreed to repay the company.

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