Courts.
The defendant was recently arrested a second time by police for identity theft.
A Lansdale man who admitted to stealing $280,000 from his former Hilltown Township employer was sentenced July 23 in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court to 11 to 23 months in Montgomery County jail, and must also repay $190,000 in restitution, according to court documents.
Lorne Leyes, 36, pleaded guilty to one felony count of theft by unlawful taking on May 23. In exchange for his guilty plea, additional charges of receiving stolen property, theft by deception, and access device fraud were dropped, according to court filings.
Investigators were contacted by the owner of Glacier Industrial Refrigeration in June 2023, who stated that he had discovered a former employee, identified as Leyes, had been stealing from his company for six years. The owner provided police with copies of withdrawal slips from the company’s bank account detailing hundreds of unauthorized withdrawals made by Leyes between April 2017 and June 2023, according to charging documents.
Police said Leyes’ employment with the company ended in November 2020, however the withdrawals continued for another two and a half years. In total, Leyes is accused of stealing $283,687 over the six-year period, with $196,775 allegedly being withdrawn via 157 transactions after his employment ended.
Leyes was charged earlier this month for identity theft and forgery by Hilltown Township Police in Bucks County.
