On November 20, 2009, Richard B. Eldreth was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, MD to six months home confinement, three years of probation, ordered to pay $57,863.73 in restitution and a $100 special assessment.
Previously on January 9, 2009, Eldreth entered a plea of guilty to one count of Theft of Government Property (18 USC 641) for using stolen GSA Voyager Fleet Credit Cards (VFCC’s) to make approximately $57,424.70 in unauthorized fuel purchases.
This investigation was initiated based upon information received through a proactive fleet investigation by GSA OIG’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Office, which showed possible fraudulent purchases being made with the VFCC for a vehicle assigned to the AMTRAK Automotive Group, Region 3. A review of pertinent information confirmed the suspected misuse of multiple AMTRAK-assigned VFCC's in the Elkton, MD, area. From late June 2008 through September 2008, approximately 8 AMTRAK-assigned VFCC's showed multiple same-day transactions for amounts of fuel which exceeded the vehicles' tank capacities.
The evidence showed Richard Eldreth used multiple VFCC's to fill several vehicles and large containers with fuel. On September 9, 2008, three of the stolen VFCC’s were found during a search warrant at Eldreth’s residence and Eldreth was arrested. The total amount of the unauthorized transactions made with the eight VFCC’s is approximately $83,000.
