ROANOKE, Va. – A former AEP employee in Roanoke has been sentenced to three years in prison for stealing more than a million dollars from AEP customers, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Court documents reveal that 64-year-old Gregory Thomas Holland, of Roanoke, Virginia, was an employee at the company for more than three decades and was in charge of AEP’s interests during customer bankruptcies, which include filing claims on behalf of AEP and processing and collecting customer payments.
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“For almost three decades, Gregory Holland was trusted to manage the accounts of American Electric Power customers. However, instead of living up to that trust, Holland betrayed it and stole more than $1.6 million dollars,” said United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh, who prosecuted the case.
In 2001, Holland opened a personal checking account using AEP’s name and address, an account that no one else in the company was aware of. Holland admitted that from May 2002 to January 2018, he deposited hundreds of checks intended for AEP into this account and would then use the money for personal expenses such as membership dues at the Roanoke Country Club, lake house payments, car payments and clothing purchases.
Since Holland didn’t report the stolen income on his IRS Form 1040 Individual Income Tax Returns for tax years 2011 through 2017, he has also been charged for filing false tax returns.
“Gregory Holland exploited his position of trust to enrich himself and spend his company’s money to support an excessive lifestyle while not reporting the stolen income to the IRS,” said Darrell Waldon, Special Agent in Charge of Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Washington D.C. Field Office.
Authorities say the total loss to AEP customers is $1,616,591 with an additional $88,254 loss to the IRS.
The Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the United States Secret Service and the Virginia State Police investigated the case.