NORFOLK -- A man was found guilty Nov. 6 of embezzling thousands of dollars from his employer, a McDonald's restaurant.
Noah Zachariah Wilson, 35, was found guilty of stealing $85,245 over 13 months from the McDonald's at 7900 Shore Drive, according to a news release.
He had worked at that location since May 2014 and by the time he began the scheme, he was a salaried manager.
Investigators said Wilson diverted cash from change orders -- a weekly process in which a manager requests a predetermined amount of money from a cash-handling company and exchanges larger dollar bills and coins with that company for smaller bills.
Between January 2023 and February 2024, Wilson requested more frequent change orders for more than the typical amount -- usually $1,000 -- and pocketed the difference. During the 13 months, he conducted 48 change orders and stole what amounted to several thousand dollars a month, according to the Commonwealth's Attorney office.
The restaurant where Wilson worked was one of several locations under the same owner and operators, so the amounts of cash he took were at first negligible, according to investigators. In February 2024, the franchise's accounting firm raised concerns about discrepancies between the franchise's automatic bank drafts and bank deposits, which led to a full audit of each restaurant's records.
The franchise operators found the discrepancies were caused by the abnormal change orders Wilson had been conducting, according to the release.
Wilson admitted to stealing the cash when he was confronted by the franchise operators, but claimed it was during a shorter time period, the release said.
The McDonald's location has since closed.
Wilson pleaded guilty to felony embezzlement. In exchange for his plea, the commonwealth agreed not to bring additional embezzlement indictments.
Under the plea agreement, the judge can sentence Wilson to up to two years and nine months in prison. Wilson will pay $85,000 in restitution, according to the Commonwealth's Attorney office. Judge Jamilah D. LeCruise accepted the plea agreement and set Wilson's sentencing hearing to Jan. 24.