An Illinois man will be sentenced to six years in prison after he pleaded guilty Monday to stealing $470,995.53 from a township company by accepting paychecks for a job he didn't have.
Anthony Armatys, 35, was scheduled to go on trial later this week before Superior Court Judge Paul Armstrong sitting in Somerville but pleaded guilty Monday as part of an agreement with the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office.
Armatys pleaded guilty to receiving the money in direct deposits from Avaya, a telecommunications firm whose corporate headquarters is in the township, for a job as a senior systems analyst/systems architect that he accepted in September 2002.
Armatys filled out the necessary paperwork with Avaya's human resources department, but he then turned down the job because of the terms of his employment contract with his then current employer, said Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne J. Forrest.
A new computer system at Avaya terminated Armatys from the company's human resources database but failed to remove him from the company's payroll system, Forrest said. Armatys continued receiving a paycheck from the company until February 2007.
The investigation began when Avaya auditors discovered that payroll checks had been mistakenly deposited into Armatys' account.
The investigation also discovered Armatys had withdrawn funds from an employee retirement savings account administered by Fidelity Investments into which Avaya had made contributions.
In a tape recorded telephone call to Fidelity Investments to transfer funds from the retirement savings account to his personal account, Armatys claimed to be an employee of Avaya and provided the necessary banking information for the transfer, Forrest said.
"Avaya is pleased the information we provided led to this outcome," said Lynn Newman, a spokeswoman for Avaya.
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