Former IT Director Sentenced for Embezzling Hundreds of Thousands from Employer

HOUSTON – The former director of Information Technology (IT) Services for a Houston-based real estate services company has been ordered to prison following his conviction related to a conspiracy in which he stole nearly $800,000, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez. Bradley David Freitas, 37, of Tomball, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

Today, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake handed Freitas a sentence of 33 months in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. His wife - Loren Elizabeth Freitas, 34, had also been convicted in the case. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and was ordered to serve a term of probation. The couple are both required to pay $773,555 in restitution.

From approximately April 14, 2009 through Jan. 14, 2014, Bradley Freitas embezzled $773,500 from the company, at times with the help of his wife.

Bradley Freitas was hired as the Director of IT services for the real estate company on March 5, 2009. Throughout his employment, he created false explanations on internal company justification documents so that the unauthorized purchases were masked as IT related items. Bradley Freitas would miscode justification documents to mask the unauthorized personal purchases for several years and made these unauthorized purchases with the company credit cards issued to him for IT purchases only. The merchandise was purchased from online retailers, such as Amazon, NewEgg and CDW, and mailed either to his office or home.

Several of the items, such as a dining room table with chairs, a Gucci purse and wallet, home entertainment systems, televisions and more, were purchased for the Freitas’ own personal enrichment. Other items, such as ipads and laptops, were sold on eBay or to their own private customers in New York and elsewhere for them to obtain a profit. At times, Loren Freitas would direct her husband as to what to purchase and then mailed the various items to be sold to their customers via FedEx or UPS.

Previously released on bond, Bradley Freitas was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The FBI conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Suzanne Elmilady is prosecuting the case.