A gambling habit and access to his company’s financial systems added up to trouble for a Puyallup man who once worked as vice president of finance for the Northwest Division of U.S. Foodservice.
Jason A. Green, 37, was sentenced Friday to two years, six months in prison after previously pleading guilty to mail fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle said.
Green admitted he used inside knowledge of the company’s payment systems to steal nearly $500,000 from U.S. Foodservice.
Federal prosecutors wrote in court records that Green and co-defendant Jimmie Dillingham used much of the money to gamble at local casinos.
U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton told Green at his sentencing at the federal courthouse in Tacoma that he frittered away an excellent job that provided him advantages other people don’t often get.
“You were blessed. I can’t see the motivation,” said Leighton, who also ordered Green to pay $496,000 in restitution.
Prosecutors said Green conspired with Dillingham to create invoices that showed Dillingham’s company had done work for U.S. Foodservice. Green then approved the payments even though the work was never done, court records show.
Green came under suspicion in 2010 after he resigned when U.S. Foodservice employees noticed shortfalls in various accounts and launched an internal investigation that later was turned over to law enforcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Dillingham has pleaded guilty to mail fraud and will be sentenced later this year.
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