Shawn Patrick Murphy
Credit: Newtown Township police
The former director of information technology for a Newtown Township company has been charged with using company accounts to steal $120,306.
Shawn Patrick Murphy, 34, of Bristol Borough was arraigned Monday on charges of dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activity, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property and access device fraud.
According to court papers filed by Newtown Township Detective Dan Bartle, Murphy was identified as having completed a total of 335 unauthorized transactions from his former employer, Signature Systems on Penn Trail.
Police said they were alerted to a possible misappropriations of funds from the company on March 31, 2013. Bartle was assigned to the case and began to uncover the alleged scheme Murphy used to steal from the company that employed him from 2006 until March 2013.
A representative of Signature Systems told police Murphy has worked his way through the company until he became director of information technology. He was provided with a business credit card and authorized to make transactions on that account for business items.
In January 2013, a company employee began suspecting Murphy was having some trouble after his work performance began suffering. Within months, he was fired from the company after he was found asleep at his desk during business hours, police said.
After losing his job, Signature Systems staff found suspicious emails from PayPal linked to the business credit card, police said.
Unauthorized transactions were found to various businesses, including a gas station and repair shop, Toyota dealership, Amazon.com and Home Depot, police said.
Murphy is accused of depositing some of the company funds into accounts linked to family members for cash withdrawals.
Murphy was arraigned by District Judge Mick Petrucci and released on $250,000 unsecured bail.
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
