Man Accused of Embezzling From Casper Business to Stand Trial

The former general manager of a Casper car wash business accused of stealing thousands of dollars over the course of some five years is set to stand trial Monday in Natrona County District Court.

Travis Leroy Wilson, 30, faces two felony charges: theft and larceny by bailee. He could face up to 20 years in prison and $20,000 in fines if convicted of both counts.

Charging papers say a Casper police detective was assigned to investigate after a co-owner of Cowboy Auto Spa on CY Avenue called police Sept. 7, 2016, to report a theft.

The co-owner later explained that on Sept. 6, 2016, he discovered Wilson had allegedly been embezzling money from the business. The co-owner used a computer program to track all business activity, and the company that operated that program identified roughly $100,000 that had been taken from the car wash.

As general manager, Wilson was reportedly the only employee who was supposed to have a password granting full access to the business. Wilson, the co-owner said, was the only employee who had been working for the car wash for several years, and had earned the owner's trust.

The co-owner who reported the theft believed that Wilson would adjust the number of car washes to reflect a lower number than what had actually occurred, then take the cash paid for the deleted car washes for himself. In order to cover his tracks, the co-owner believed, Wilson would then modify the daily bank deposit totals to make it look as though no money was missing.

Wilson, who allegedly had full access to the car wash software, would have been able to manipulate that information. Wilson was fired and his keys were taken on Sept. 7, 2016.

The co-owner said he had confronted Wilson about the alleged embezzlement, but Wilson was reportedly unwilling to divulge any information and denied the allegations.

A forensic investigation of the business account reportedly showed that the total amount taken came to $234,763.92 over the course of five years, from the middle of August 2011 to the end of August 2016.

A grand total of 16,972 car wash transactions had been reversed during that time, which investigators say substantiated the co-owner's original assumption of the method used to steal the money.

The owners noted that the car washes were reversed when Wilson was working. When Wilson was not working for any specific amount of time, no reverse transactions were logged into the system.

The detective reviewed Wilson's bank account history and found that since 2011, "many" deposits in the amount of roughly $300 were made into Wilson's account between paydays.

"Coincidentally, the money missing during the same periods of time from the company deposits were also usually within the $300 range," the affidavit reads.

As of March 3, investigators say no suspicious account or transaction activity had taken place at the car wash since the day Wilson was fired.

The case will be heard before District Judge Thomas Sullins beginning Monday morning.