A Rome, Ga., man pleaded guilty Tuesday to multiple charges relating to a $4 million scheme involving timber that did not exist.
The trial of Aaron Wilbert Freeman, 50, was scheduled to begin Wednesday, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. But before the trial began, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Freeman manipulated his employer’s computer system to “create phony receipts for timber deliveries that never took place,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in the release.
“He also recruited timber truck drivers to redeem the fake receipts for payment, then laundered the proceeds through multiple financial institutions,” she said.
On Nov. 2, 2009, a federal grand jury returned a 20-count indictment against Freeman and his 19 accomplices, the release states.