FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS ADVISORY
August 6, 2013
For More Information, contact:
Luther Strange
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Alabama Attorney General
Claire Haynes (334) 242-7351
Page 1 of 1
AG ANNOUNCES SENTENCING FOR THEFT OF $225,300
IN SCHEME INVOLVING FALSIFIED EMPLOYMENT RECORDS
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Luther Strange announced that an Ashville man
has been sentenced for the theft of $225,300 by overseeing a scheme to submit false invoices for
fictitious workers he claimed had been hired to clean alongside highways throughout the State
of Alabama. Thomas Edward Taylor, 63, was sentenced on August 2 to serve 100 months,
which was suspended for him to serve 12 months in prison and to pay full restitution.
Taylor was a former employee of Sweeping Corporation of America, which was
headquartered in Nashville with a regional office in Birmingham. Taylor hired temporary
workers for litter removal through Temporary Helpers, LLC, a company owned by Amy Hill.
Taylor and Hill falsified records and made claims for workers who did not perform any work
over a period of time from about September 2007 through March 2009.
Hill pleaded guilty to first-degree theft on April 17, 2012 for her role in the criminal
scheme and she testified at Taylor’s trial. Hill was sentenced to 10 years, which was suspended
for a period of five years probation and ordered to pay restitution.
Taylor was found guilty of first-degree theft on June 13 following a trial in Jefferson
County Circuit Court. The Attorney General’s Office presented evidence that included the
fraudulent invoices that Taylor organized and approved which listed the falsified workers, as
well as the true business records that included the correct number of workers who had actually
performed labor. Documents also were presented which Taylor had written, providing
instructions on how to create invoices for the falsified workers. Testimony at trial established
that Taylor and Hill presented the falsified invoices, which contained approximately 40 to 60
fictitious workers each week, to Sweeping Corporation. As a result of Taylor’s false-invoice
scheme, Sweeping Corporation was deceived into submitting inflated payments to Amy Hill,
who then kicked weekly checks back to Taylor for the amount of money billed for the fictitious
workers.
“I am pleased that these defendants have been held to account and are being punished
for their crimes,” said Attorney General Strange. “Their scheme defrauded a company and kept
Alabama workers from being hired to perform work for which that company paid a quarter of a
million dollars.”
Attorney General Strange commended Assistant Attorneys Thomas Govan and
Stephanie Billingslea and Paralegal Lori Arnold of his Criminal Trials Divisions, Special Agents
of his Investigations Division and Training Specialist Angelique Pugh of the Attorney General’s
Computer Services Section.
–30–
501 Washington Avenue Montgomery, AL 36104 (334) 242-7300
www.ago.state.al.us
