A man pleaded guilty to defrauding The Claremont Colleges of more than $1 million through a wire fraud scheme.
Steven Anthony Cowles, 45, of Santa Clarita, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
Cowles has worked as an electrical shop supervisor for The Claremont Colleges Services (TCCS) since 2015. In that role, he oversaw maintenance of electrical systems across all seven campuses in Los Angeles County and handled ordering parts and supplies as needed.
Prosecutors said that from June 2018 through July 2024, Cowles embezzled approximately $1,000,571 from his employer through at least 1,343 unauthorized transactions.
His employer issued him several Visa credit cards to purchase products and services for campus-related work. According to court documents, Cowles linked his personal PayPal account to the company credit cards and transferred funds from those cards into his personal account.
To hide the scheme, Cowles submitted fake invoices and other documents to his employer that falsely showed the transfers as legitimate purchases of electrical products and services.
Prosecutors said Cowles used this method because “when transaction data was transmitted from Wells Fargo [cards] to Workday, the transaction would populate in the Workday system with only the name of the third-party payment platform, not the ultimate recipient of the funds,” according to court records.
On Jan. 7, Cowles pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 22 and faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
Leave a Reply