Birmingham, AL 11/21/2016
Joseph Wayne Attaway
38-year-old Joseph Wayne Attaway has been charged with Theft of Property 1st Degree after detectives discovered he stole nearly $90,000 from his employer over a year long period.
Attaway worked as an accountant for a Birmingham logistics company. He began his employment in May of 2014. His responsibilities included overseeing the payment of vendors for the company and managing their bank accounts.
In late September of 2016 Attaway was terminated from his employment for failing to return to work after a vacation. A team of accountants was assigned to reconcile the books and take over the duties that had been assigned to Attaway. The accounting team found that they were unable to reconcile the accounts and asked for an audit to be conducted.
During the audit, it was discovered that Attaway had created a fake vendor account using his personal checking account information. He began paying fraudulent invoices and transferring money directly into his personal account in May of 2015. Over the course of the next year he transferred $87,600 into his personal account without authorization from the company.
On September 26, 2016, the Sheriff’s Office was contacted to investigate the theft. The case was assigned to the Special Investigations Unit for follow-up. Detectives learned that Attaway had used the stolen money to finance an extravagant lifestyle. He used the money to buy a truck, furniture, and airline tickets. He also made rent payments on an apartment in Homewood and bought food, alcohol,and gifts from gentleman’s club. Some of the stolen funds were paid to an attorney to represent him in a DUI case. He depleted his checking account leaving a negative balance.
On November 17, 2016 detectives obtained an arrest warrant charging Attaway with Theft of Property 1st Degree.
Joseph Wayne Attaway remains at large. He is believed to be in the Oneonta area. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office at 205-325-1450 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.