A May sentencing date is set for a former employee of Crystal Hot Sauce manufacturer Baumer Foods who admitted to embezzling more than $400,000 over a five-year period.
61-year-old Wayne Soniat pleaded guilty in New Orleans U.S. District Court to one count each of wire fraud and submitting fraudulent federal income tax returns. He's facing a maximum sentence of 23 years in prison, or he could just receive probation.
Soniat's scheme involved the creation of "ghost" employees at the Metairie-based firm and obtaining the money paid to them for work they never performed because they really didn't exist.
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