For his role in a decade-long stolen-goods scheme, a former senior manager of a FedEx Ground facility in Delaware was sentenced to more than three years in jail and ordered to pay back more than $1.1 million and forfeit more than $1.8 million in property on Thursday.
In February 2020, Joseph Kukta, 45, of Laurel, Delaware, pleaded guilty in the United States District Court of Maryland to one count of interstate transportation of stolen property and one count of tax evasion.
Prosecutors claim Kukta exploited his position as a senior manager at the FedEx facility in Seaford, Delaware, to steal millions of dollars in products and merchandise from 2009 to 2019.
In a statement to FreightWaves, FedEx Ground spokesman Dana Hardek said, “FedEx Ground does not accept the criminal activity of any kind and expects all employees to comply with the highest ethical standards.” “Throughout this criminal investigation, we completely cooperated with law enforcement.”
According to court filings, Kukta mainly targeted bulk electronics and other high-end merchandise destined for a Walmart distribution center in Smyrna, Delaware, as well as packages destined for other businesses.
Kukta allegedly exploited the FedEx Ground computer system and his inside knowledge to select specific objects or packages that “he sought to steal owing to their value,” according to prosecutors. He would return to the plant during off hours after the commodities were put onto FedEx trailers and grab the items from the trailers.
According to prosecutors, Kukta took out all stolen things from a rented storage facility and sold the goods at an auction house in Delaware after FedEx (NYSE: FDX) mistakenly made him aware of an ongoing federal grand jury inquiry in June 2019.
According to court documents, he also failed to report more than $600,000 in revenue from his plan to the IRS.
How did the plan work?
Kukta agreed to resell the stolen products from the FedEx facility to co-defendant Saurabh Chawla, 36, of Aurora, Colorado, for about half the retail price, according to his plea bargain. Chawla was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison in September.
According to court documents, Chawla pleaded guilty to conspiracy, interstate transportation of stolen items, and tax evasion in April 2021.
Kukta allegedly sent Chawla a weekly list of available items and merchandise and had them transported to one of Chawla’s cousins in Maryland, according to prosecutors. According to court filings, Chawla acquired stolen products worth more than $3 million over ten years.
