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Smithfield man charged with stealing $10,500 from employer

By Alyssa Choiniere achoiniere@heraldstandard.Com 2 min read

A Smithfield man is facing 549 charges for allegedly stealing $10,525 from his former employer, American Construction Group of Washington, through company gas cards.

Samuel Thomas Hlatky, 36, of New Geneva Road is charged with 169 counts each of forgery, theft by deception, and access device fraud and 14 counts of attempt to commit each crime.

The alleged theft was discovered July 4 when company owner Robert Wallace received a phone call that he was nearing his credit limit on company gas cards. He told them the bill was paid in full June 30, “and there was no way his company used $2,500 in gas in four days,” court documents said.

Wallace received a printout of the transactions and discovered discrepancies between April 4 and July 2. He traveled to Marathon gas station locations at 104 West Fayette Street and 732 Morgantown Road, both in Uniontown, and reportedly recognized his employee on surveillance footage making transactions. Hlatky would allegedly pre-pay for fuel with the gas card, pump $5 to $10 in gas and then obtain the remaining balance in cash from the store. During each transactions, he allegedly forged the signature of Rob Fisher.

In one surveillance video, court documents indicate Hlatky entered the Morgantown Road gas station June 30 in a bright green, cut-off T-shirt, pre-paid for $70 of gas, signed a receipt “Rob Fisher,” pumped 3.6 gallons of gas for $9 and obtained $61 in change.

He allegedly made 169 successful transactions and 14 attempted transactions at the two gas stations.

Hlatky was arraigned Wednesday night before on-call Magisterial District Judge Nathan A. Henning and lodged in Fayette County Prison in lieu of a $15,000 bond.

Charges were filed before Magisterial District Judge Michael Metros.

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