Lehi City News
No jail time for former Lehi City employee guilty of embezzlement
Former Lehi City Streets Superintendent Wade Allred and his cousin, Adam Lake, have both pled guilty to embezzling nearly $800,000 from Lehi City between 2014 and 2019.
Allred has admitted to creating fake purchase orders for road salt and other road materials from Lake’s company, Vinco Enterprises, when in fact, Lehi City never received the materials. According to court documents, “Allred was responsible for ordering these materials for Lehi City. During this period, Lehi City paid $791,582 to the company owned by defendant Lake as payment on these invoices.”
Allred and Lake were charged in Provo’s Fourth District Court with 15 second degree felonies and one third-degree felony, including money laundering, communications fraud, theft, and witness tampering.
On Wednesday, October 27, Allred pled guilty in a plea agreement negotiated between Allred’s attorney Brett Anderson and Utah County prosecuting attorney Timothy Taylor. The agreement included Allred’s conviction on one offense (communications fraud), while the remaining 14 charges were dropped.
The charge of 2nd Degree Felony Communications Fraud carries a Utah State Prison sentence between 1-15 years, but during sentencing on December 8, Judge Robert Lunnen suspended the prison sentence, citing the desire that Allred repay the insurance company.
According to court documents obtained by the Lehi Free Press, the agreed upon plea bargain is as follows:
The Defendant plead guilty to Count 8, Communications Fraud, Counts 1-7 and 9-15 are being dismissed. The Defendant has agreed to repay $390,791 to National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh PA (hereinafter referred to as, National Union), the subrogee of Lehi City. The repayment of that amount is the subject to a civil agreement with National Union and a restitution judgment for that amount shall not be entered. The Defendant also agrees to pay Lehi City $5,000 at or before the time of sentencing. The payment is to reimburse Lehi City for its [insurance] deductible.
In the civil settlement contract obtained by the Lehi Free Press between Wade Allred and National Union, Allred is required to follow the following repayment schedule:
A. One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) on or before December 1, 2021, and on or before the 1st calendar day of each month thereafter for 35 additional months. B. A final payment of $354,791 on or before December 31, 2024. C. There is no interest chargeable as long as the terms of this paragraph are followed. D. Mr. Allred may make additional payments to National Union in whole or in part at any time. There is no prepayment penalty.
Codefendant Adam Lake is responsible for the other half of restitution owed to the insurance company.
Along with paying the insurance company back, Allred was sentenced to 36 months of probation and charged with a $10,000 fine that will be waived if the insurance company is fully repaid.
