OGDEN — A 45-year-old Ogden man has been charged with stealing more than $173,000 in an alleged contract billing scheme.

The Weber County Attorney’s Office on Tuesday charged Anthony Mark Pino with one count of theft and eight counts of communications fraud, all second-degree felonies, related to the alleged diversions from July 2020 to January 2021.

Pino worked for Gideon Contracting, coordinating the leasing of heavy equipment from a crane company, according to a Weber County Sheriff’s Office probable cause statement. He was supposed to receive and approve invoices.

Instead of passing along the true invoices for further approval and payment, Pino allegedly devised a scheme to create fake invoices with inflated costs. He allegedly set up a bank account purportedly belonging to the crane company. Gideon paid the inflated amounts to that fake account, Pino paid the crane company the lower sums and allegedly pocketed the difference, according to the charging documents.

According to court records, Pino is expected to be issued a summons to appear in court on the charges. He did not have an attorney of record as of Thursday.

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