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Trucking Company Employee Accused Of Stealing More Than $400,000

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A trucking company employee is accused of redirecting more than $400,000 in customer payments into his personal bank account.

According to a criminal complaint, 29-year-old James R. Perry Jr., of Coraopolis, worked as the director of credit and collections billing and settlement at R&R Express trucking company.

Officials at the company discovered in July that Perry had been stealing money through their customer credit card payment system since April 2015.

Records showed customers would send their credit card payments to R&R and Perry would then use a computer program to process the payments and redirect them into his personal checking account. The records showed about $373,927.80 in customer payments had been deposited into Perry's personal account over the years.

james perry jr
(Photo Credit: Allegheny County District Attorney's Office)

According to the company, customers were unaware their payments were being diverted because their bank accounts would show that R&R Express processed the payments and the services rendered. Perry would write off the customers' accounts as "bad debt," and R&R Express would typically take the loss.

An R&R Express official said he discovered what Perry was doing when he logged onto Perry's company computer account to process payments while Perry was out of the office after he was arrested for a probation violation.

Officers obtained a search warrant to seize Perry's financial records and found Perry had used the stolen money to pay for adult entertainment, Tinder, sports tickets and more.

Perry is facing theft and other charges. He was taken into custody Monday morning and arraigned with bail set at $10,000 straight.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 18.

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