COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) -
A Columbus man and his wife entered into pleas of not guilty Tuesday on charges of defrauding a Columbus company out of almost half a million dollars, according to an indictment.
William Frazier and his wife Heather walked into federal court in Columbus Tuesday afternoon in handcuffs.
Frazier is charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and 16-counts of wire fraud equaling almost $500,000 in credit card charges and company money transfers to other bank accounts according to an indictment.
Beginning in November of 2008, officials say he used a company credit card from his then employer Omega Training Division, a division of Cubic Corporation in Columbus for personal expenses like sculptures for his home, jewelry, and casino chips and cash.
Also according to an indictment, his wife, Heather faces one count of false statements for allegedly denying she knew or participated in defraud and two counts of misprison of felony, for allegedly knowing about the crime and not reporting it.
Represented by different attorneys, the defendants entered into pleas of not guilty Tuesday, and were both released on unsecured $10,000 bonds.
"Typically in federal court unless you are accused of doing something dangerous to the community, they don't take up taxpayers money by keeping you in jail before trial," said William Mason, Heather Frazier's attorney.
Mason says there is still much to learn about the case.
"The U.S. Attorney will deliver to me within the next two weeks the materials that led to these charges, and we will do an investigation, and we will do whatever is in the best interest of my client," said Mason.
William Frazier's attorney declined to comment on the case as did the company that Frazier allegedly stole from, but Cubic Corporation officials did say Frazier was employed by them from April of 2007 to March of this year.
According to the U.S. Attorney Michael Moore, if convicted William Frazier could face 1 to 20 years for each wire fraud charge, and 1 to 10 years in prison for the firearms charge.
Heather Frazier could face 1 to 5 years in prison for the false statements charge and 1 to 3 years for the misprison charges.
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