Employee ordered to pay back nearly $50K to Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealership

An office manager must pay back nearly $50,000 to an Ohio dealership after she was sentenced for tampering with the dealership’s records.

Nicole Bradley, 44, was sentenced on Oct. 13 following an investigation into her role as office manager at Erwin Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep in Troy, Ohio, about 19 miles north of Dayton, according to records from the Common Pleas Court of Miami County, Ohio.

Bradley accrued $47,475 in unauthorized funds from the dealership between 2019 and 2021, according to court documents. She was sentenced to five years of community control (a form of probation) and 40 hours of community service and ordered to pay $47,475 to Erwin Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep in monthly increments, according to court records.

An investigation into Bradley began after the dealership filed a complaint in August 2021, according to Steve Hickey, a detective for the Miami County Sheriff’s Office.

Hickey, who led the investigation, said Bradley had access to business credit cards, which she used to ship Amazon packages to her home address and purchase items such as furniture, clothing and birthday decor. The Sheriff’s Office also found evidence she altered her payroll to make payments on a vehicle she purchased through the dealership, Hickey said.

Erwin Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep cooperated fully throughout the investigation, Hickey said. The dealership owner was not immediately available for comment.

Bradley’s actions were more serious than conduct that typically results in a tampering charge, Judge Stacy M. Wall wrote in a report detailing the sentence. Bradley “was a long-term employee of a family business who was trusted with sole access over accounts and payroll,” the report said, adding the court did not find Bradley “remorseful for the nonfinancial harm she caused.”

She was initially charged with one count of theft and one count of tampering with records, both are fourth-degree felonies, and served with the indictment on March 9. Court records show Bradley agreed to plead guilty to the tampering charge on Sept. 2.

If her sentence is violated, Bradley could serve up to a year and a half in prison, the report said.

Bradley’s attorney, Mark A. Fisher, was not immediately available for comment.