Tipp City Manufacturing Company Employees Sentenced for Embezzling Company Funds

U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of Ohio
15 April 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DAYTON – Michael J. Wion, 44, of Venice, Florida, and Tess Cremeens, 47, of Troy, Ohio, were sentenced in U.S. District Court for their roles in embezzling more than $725,000 from their former employer.

Wion was sentenced to 48 months in prison and was ordered to pay $733,640 in restitution to Repacorp, Inc. and $140,794 to the IRS. Cremeens was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay approximately $250,000 to Repacorp and $70,000 to the IRS.

Benjamin C. Glassman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Kathy A. Enstrom, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation, and Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Field Division, announced the sentences handed down today by U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Rose.

According to court documents, from approximately 2006 until May 2012, Wion was the controller for Repacorp, a privately owned manufacturing company headquartered in Tipp City, Ohio. As controller, he occupied a management-level position and was in charge of accounts payable/receivable and payroll, as well as other accounting and financial operations.

Wion devised a scheme to embezzle money from the company through PayPal accounts for approximately five years, by setting up multiple accounts to facilitate and conceal his movement of funds from Repacorp’s PayPal accounts to his own accounts. During that time he made approximately 300 electronic transfers.

Wion and Cremeens both devised a scheme to steal money from the company’s payroll, as well. For nearly three years, the pair booked additional payments in QuickBooks as automotive allowances being paid to former employees who were no longer with the company but who appeared in the system as active names. In total, they transferred money from payroll to their own bank accounts more than 100 times.

In addition to embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from their former employee, Wion and Cremeens also evaded thousands of dollars in federal taxes. Between 2008 and 2012, Wion admitted to failing to pay approximately $140,000 in federal taxes. Cremeens failed to pay more than $70,000 in federal taxes between 2010 and 2012.

"As we approach the end of tax filing season, those who might consider committing income tax fraud should be aware of the extremely negative consequences as evidenced today," said Kathy A. Enstrom, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office. "Today's sentencing of Mr. Wion and Ms. Cremeens again emphasizes that the IRS and U.S. Attorney's office will continue their aggressive pursuit of those who would attempt to defraud America's tax system."

Wion pleaded guilty on December 4, 2015 to one count of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of tax evasion. Cremeens pleaded guilty on December 11, 2015 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of tax evasion.

Acting U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the cooperative investigation by the IRS Criminal Investigation and FBI, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Alex R. Sistla, who is representing the United States in this case.