Man pleads guilty in fraud case
WAYNESBURG – A Cumberland Township man who used his company’s credit card to purchase more than $112,000 in lottery tickets and gift cards pleaded guilty last week.
Brian Roy Kozy, 33, of 5 Cumberland Village, entered an open plea Wednesday to one felony count of access device fraud before Greene County Judge Lou Dayich. The judge ordered a pre-sentence report be completed before Kozy is sentenced.
Police said Kozy used a credit card from First Choice Energy Services, for which he worked as a tanker truck driver, to purchase lottery tickets and gift cards from the Circle K stores in Carmichaels and Uniontown and the Sheetz store in Cumberland Township.
Between July 31, 2015 and Jan. 4, Kozy used the card to make unlawfully purchases totaling $112,849.
Kozy was laid off by First Choice Aug. 22, 2015, but failed to return the card to the company.
Kozy told police he used the card “to keep his head above water” and hoped to get called back to work. Though he acknowledged that he used the card a lot, Kozy told investigators he didn’t realize that he had spent more than $100,000.
Kozy also told police he had become addicted to buying lottery tickets and started buying gift cards because of the coming Christmas holidays.