Merced man embezzled $450K, including Christmas bonuses of workers, police say

Investigators are looking for a man with ties to Merced who allegedly embezzled more than $450,000 from his employer in San Joaquin County, the district attorney’s office said on Thursday.

An arrest warrant for Carl Joseph Means, 36, of Merced was issued on Wednesday. The former plant manager for AMG Resources Corp. in Lathrop is accused of embezzling $455,949 from the metal recycler, authorities said.

He is on the lam and thought to be in the Los Angeles area, authorities said.

Means allegedly arranged for a series of trucks between 2013 and 2016 to take inventory from the metal recycler to Atwater Iron and Metal in Merced County, where the materials were sold. Means collected checks for the materials and never reported them to his employer, authorities said.

During the four years of embezzlement, investigators said, Means suspended the Christmas bonuses of plant workers, telling them the plant could not afford to pay out the money.

Means was charged on Wednesday with grand theft and falsification of corporate books, a felony, according to authorities.

Anyone with knowledge of his whereabouts or this case is asked to call Lathrop Police Department Detective Ryan Luiz at 209-647-6407.

The district attorney’s office urged all businesses to get training and adopt practices to avoid, detect, stop and recover from embezzlement.

This story was originally published June 2, 2017 at 1:51 PM with the headline "Merced man embezzled $450K, including Christmas bonuses of workers, police say."