Akron Man Charged in Scheme to Defraud Dell Inc. and Dell Financial Services

Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced today that a federal grand jury in Cleveland, Ohio, returned an indictment charging Edward E. Bailey, Jr., age 36, of Akron, Ohio, with 20 counts of mail fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud Dell Inc., and Dell Financial Services, causing losses of more than $460,000.

The indictment charges that between January 2006, and December 2006, Bailey, then employed as the Office Manager for Warner-Summit Fabricating, Inc., of Barberton, Ohio, devised a scheme and artifice to defraud Dell Inc., and Dell Financial Services, and in executing and attempting to execute the scheme, placed at least 410 orders through Dell Inc., for computers and other electronic equipment, which Bailey caused to be shipped via private commercial interstate carrier to Barberton, Ohio.

The Indictment charges that Bailey fraudulently established lines of credit through Dell Inc., and Dell Financial Services in the name of Warner-Summit Fabricating, Inc., without the knowledge or authorization of the officers and owners of Warner-Summit Fabricating, Inc., and used the fraudulently opened credit lines to charge the computers and electronic equipment he ordered from Dell Inc. The Indictment charges that Bailey re-sold the computers and electronic equipment but failed to pay Dell Inc., and Dell Financial Services for the products obtained.

If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert W. Kern of the Cleveland U.S. Attorney’s Office, following an investigation by the Akron Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.