ST. LOUIS COUNTY • A St. Charles man has pleaded guilty in the theft of more than $337,000 in medical supplies from his former company, Earth City-based Cardinal Health, over three years.

Julio C. Villa, 42, of the 1100 block of Perry Street, pleaded guilty Feb. 1 in St. Louis County Circuit Court with one felony count of stealing more than $25,000. St. Louis County Circuit Judge Dean Waldemer gave Villa a suspended five-year sentence and put him on probation for five years.

Villa paid back $60,000 to the company, court records say. He also must return the rest of the money at a 9 percent interest rate by 2024.

Charges filed last year said employees of Cardinal Health, a medical supplier at 13636 Lakefront Drive, realized something was amiss and reviewed surveillance video of Villa walking back-and-forth to his car "at various times" during his shifts.

Villa later confessed that he had been stealing medical equipment and selling it to a man he knew from New Jersey, charges said. The company determined equipment totaling $337,511.69 had been stolen between 2015 and 2018.