Former IT Director embezzles thousands from Houston employer

A former Information Technology Services Director for a Houston based real-estate company was ordered to prison Thursday after embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the business with his wife, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas.

Bradley David Freitas,of Tomball, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison and afterwards will have three years of supervised release. His wife, Loren Freitas, 34, also was convicted but will only serve a term of probation. Freitas embezzled $773,500 from the unnamed company between April 2009 and January 2014, with help from his wife, stated the news release.

After the 37-year-old was hired in March 2009 at the real estate company, he created false explanations on internal company justification documents, so that unauthorized purchases were masked as IT related items. He would miscode justification documents to mask the purchases, and also used company credit cards to buy unauthorized items.

He purchased from online retailers like Amazon, NewEgg and CDW and had the items mailed to his office or home. Some purchases like a dining room table with chairs, a Gucci purse and wallet, home entertainment systems and televisions were used for the Freitas' personal enjoyment.

Some of his purchases, including IPads and laptops, were sold on eBay or to the Freitas' private customers in New York and other locations, for profit.

Loren would sometimes tell her husband what to purchase and then mail some of the items to sell to their customers via FedEx or UPS.

Bradley plead guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. His wife plead guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

The former IT director was previously released on bond, but will voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility in the near future.

The FBI conducted the investigation.