Mars Wrigley manager stole over $1.2M and splurged to ‘build his reputation,’ feds say
A former Mars Wrigley employee convicted of scamming the confectionery company out of more than $1.2 million is headed to prison, according to federal prosecutors in Georgia.
A judge sentenced Michael Mayfield to three years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his role in a years-long invoice scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said in a Dec. 3 news release.
He must also pay $1,269,457.56 in restitution.
Mayfield, an environmental manager at the Mars Wrigley plant in Flowery Branch, was accused of stealing more than $500,000 in rebate checks and creating fake invoices to cover the cost of items for his personal use, prosecutors said.
He “betrayed the trust his company had in him then used the fraudulently gained money ... to try and build his reputation in the community,” Sean Burke, acting special agent in charge for FBI Atlanta, said in the release.
McClatchy News reached out to attorneys representing Mayfield on Wednesday, Dec. 4, but didn’t immediately hear back.
‘Scheme to betray and defraud’
Mayfield spent the money on hunting trips, sporting equipment, tickets to a University of Georgia football game and a donation to his church, court documents show.
The sentencing comes months after he was convicted and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in August, according to court documents. Prosecutors said Mayfield ran the scam from December 2016 until “sometime in 2022.”
“Mayfield devised a false invoicing scheme to betray and defraud his employer of more than $1 million,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan, said in the release.
The factory where Mayfield worked produced recycling waste considered valuable by other companies, which paid Mars Wrigley via rebate checks after the waste was disposed, according to prosecutors.
He instead siphoned the payments to his own company, WWJ Recycling, and splurged, according to the documents. Purchases included an $80,000 donation to his church and “$200,000 worth of checks to himself,” the documents show.
A co-conspirator, who was not named, also helped the then-manager create phony invoices from a supplier to Mars Wrigley, which unwittingly paid for personal items sent to Mayfield, according to court documents. In one case, the co-conspirator billed Mars Wrigley for “safety supplies,” the documents said.
“The actual items that were purchased included football supplies for the Flowery Branch High School football team such as cleats, clothing, stadium improvements; tickets to a University of Georgia football game; and gift cards,” according to court documents. “These false invoices totaled over $199,000 and included a mark up for (the supplier), which totaled over $75,000.”
Other purchases, according to the documents, included:
$7,029 worth of equipment for the Flowery Branch Football Touchdown Club
$14,113.55 worth of sweatshirts and other apparel for the football players
$1,059.50 in gift card purchases
McClatchy News reached out to Mars Wrigley for comment Wednesday, Dec. 4, and was awaiting a response.
Flowery Branch is about a 45-mile drive northeast from downtown Atlanta.
This story was originally published December 4, 2024 at 1:45 PM with the headline "Mars Wrigley manager stole over $1.2M and splurged to ‘build his reputation,’ feds say."