NEW ORLEANS—U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that HOWARD GREGOR, age 52, a resident of Attica, Ohio, was charged today in a two-count Bill of Information for mail and wire fraud.

According to court documents, from November 3, 2008, through on or about April 19, 2013, GREGOR worked for Company A, a New Orleans based company that manufactures conveyor belts for use in food processing and packaging facilities. Company A employed GREGOR as an account manager. His sales work required him to travel frequently and incur business-related expenses. Company A had a policy that allowed account managers to submit expense reports for reimbursement of actual out-of-pocket business expenses. Rather than submitting expense reports for actual expenses, GREGOR devised a scheme and artifice to defraud Company A by creating inflated and fictitious items to put on his expense report to cause Company A to pay him for expenses that he did not actually incur. GREGOR submitted these expense reports via U.S. mail and electronic mail. In all, GREGOR caused Company A to reimburse him for nearly $300,000 of expenses that he did not actually incur, causing a loss to the company.

If convicted, GREGOR faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years, followed by five years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000, as to each of Counts 1 and 2.

U.S. Attorney Polite reiterated that the Bill of Information is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Postal Inspection Service in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Sharan Lieberman is in charge of the prosecution.