Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
A Levittown man who stole enough money to equal the salary of two hearing aid company employees was sent to jail last week.
Robert Keown, 31, was sentenced to 11.5 to 23 months in county jail and five years probation. He was carted from court in handcuffs by sheriff deputies.
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Keown was working as a regional manager for Hearing Lab Technology (HLT) in Bristol Borough when he allegedly scammed the fast-growing company that grew from around 100 employees to several hundred in a short period of time.
Keown used refunds from returned items. He placed the refunds on cards which differed from the ones that made the purchase, the probable cause affidavit said.
Over two years, these refunds piled up, and Keown received $86,616.50 in refunds from Wells Fargo Bank, according to court papers.
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Keown admitted before Judge Rea Boylan that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from his employer.
“I’d like to first off express how sorry I am. I betrayed trust and hurt a lot of people in the process,” Keown said.
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Throughout the hearing, Keown’s attorney, as well as the 31 year old himself openly admitted that he hurt the trust of those involved. He also said that he wants to make it up to everyone involved.
After spending time in prison, Keown is ordered to pay more than $86,000 in restitution to the company he betrayed.
According to the company controller, the owners of HLT treated Keown as family and gave him room to grow with the company.
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Boylan was not pleased to learn that Keown recently quit a job because it was “low paying.She said it appeared he wasn’t too serious about paying back HLT if he was currently unemployed.
Keown used the stolen money to pay down personal debit, buy drugs and fund a relationship with his girlfriend.
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Assistant District Attorney Marc Furber said Keown made a handsome salary at HLT and had no reason to take the refunds.
“This was a crime of greed, not necessity.”
