Philadelphia Man Sentenced to Nearly 5 Years for Defrauding Lucas County Auditor of $622K

A Philadelphia man has been handed a 57-month prison term for orchestrating a fraudulent scheme that swindled over $622,000 from the Lucas County Auditor’s office, as detailed in a recent report from the

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio

. Darren Barr, 39, conceived a sophisticated operation with accomplices impersonating approved vendors, leading to his conviction and subsequent sentencing by U.S. District Judge James G. Carr of the Northern District of Ohio.

Following his release from prison, Barr will be placed under three years of supervised release, with the requirement to reimburse $622,793.62 to Lucas County. The fraud, which spanned from March 2018 to November 2020, involved crafting false email accounts to mimic those of legitimate businesses. The conspirators gathered public information to replicate authentic vendor identities and hoodwink county employees into diverting payments to their bogus bank accounts.

An investigation spearheaded by the FBI Cleveland Division revealed that Barr and his compatriots utilized information available on public websites to pinpoint precise details about legitimate businesses and the Lucas County employees tasked with financial disbursements. As stated by the

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio

, this enabled them to convincingly forge corporate documents from the State of Pennsylvania and the IRS, creating a façade of legitimacy that successfully duped county workers.

Upon the receipt of funds in the fraudulent accounts, the perpetrators, led by Barr, funneled the money through various other accounts in a calculated effort to obscure their illegal activities. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Melching for the Northern District of Ohio prosecuted the case, which concluded with Barr’s sentencing.

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