LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — Deputies said they arrested a man accused of stealing $160,000 from a trucking company where he used to work.
Amador Bustos was arrested Monday afternoon in Groveland.
Investigators said he wrote hundreds of fake checks to other suspects in the case.
Some of the suspects were in Central Florida and others were out-of-state.
The sheriff's office told WFTV they were all linked to Bustos.
Bustos was a road breakdown specialist for Carroll Fulmer Logistics.
Lake County deputies said Bustos used his position at the trucking and freight company to help himself to more than $160,000 in corporate funds.
"He had inside knowledge of how the system worked, as far as how the checks were issued, and he did it over several months, a little at a time," said James Vachon, of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
According to investigators, the thefts began almost as soon as Bustos started working for the company in 2010.
They said Bustos used his access to the company to print checks on 225 occasions.
Deputies also said Bustos then had friends and family members in Florida and North Carolina cash the checks.
Several of his family members, including Angel Parilla Jr., are now facing grand theft charges.
Bustos used him as a reference to get his job at Carroll Fulmer Logistics, investigators said.
"He was basically issuing a purchase order number, the checks were issued and his friends were cashing them in other locations. It was a pretty good size operation," Vachon said.
The statewide prosecutor's office will be handling the case because of the many jurisdictions involved.
WFTV
