Two Salisbury Men Charged For Stealing More Than $900k From Corporation To Fund Optometry Business
SALISBURY, Md. (WJZ) -- Two Salisbury men have been charged for stealing more than $900,000 from a Salisbury-based corporation where one of the men worked, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Maryland announced Wednesday.
According to the 10-count indictment, Stephen Franklin, 53, and Duane Larmore, 46, used money stolen from Shore Appliance to pay business expenses and investments for optometry businesses Franklin was involved in.
Larmore reportedly maintained books and records at Shore Appliances, which sells household appliances. Franklin was the CEO of Accurate Optical, which is headquartered in Salisbury, and CEO and part-owner of East Coast Optometric.
Larmore would obtain money through a process called factoring, a process by which businesses, like Shore Appliance, can obtain cash quickly by leveraging accounts receivable, said the office. Larmore's theft left the company's accounts receivable encumbered with over $725,000 in charges and interest.
The indictment said to obtain contracts with factoring companies for the appliance corporation, Larmore posed at an owner of the business and allegedly went as far as providing details of the owner's date of birth, address, and social security number.
The indictment alleges that when Franklin's optical companies had financial trouble, he requested Larmore provide more funds from Shore Appliances.
The office said if convicted, both men face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for a wire fraud conspiracy and for each of seven counts of wire fraud; and a mandatory sentence of two years in federal prison, consecutive to any other sentence imposed, for each of two counts of identity theft.
