Webster woman going to prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wegmans

ROCHESTER, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Alicia Torres, 48, of Webster, NY, who was convicted of wire fraud, was sentenced to serve one year in prison by U.S. District Judge David G. Larimer. Torres was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $578,943.86.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick, who handled the case, stated that Torres was employed at Wegmans Food Market, Inc. for approximately 27 years. Between 2014 and February 2023, she utilized the Enterprise System, which is used to fill customers’ prescriptions, to fraudulently process approximately 350 credit card refund requests in customers’ names with fictitious amounts. The fraudulent refund amounts were based on what Torres observed customers receiving in previous transactions. She then tricked the pharmacist on duty to sign off on and authorize the fraudulent refund requests.  Once refund requests were approved, Torres paid the refund amounts to herself by swiping her bank debit card in Wegmans’ point of sale system. Between 2014 and February 2023, Torres received $568,021.69 in fraudulent refunds. In addition, between 2020 and February 2023, Torres fraudulently used Wegmans gift cards to steal $10,922.17 from Wegmans.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia.

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