Former Chick-fil-A employee pleads guilty to fraud

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A former Chick-fil-A manager pleaded guilty Tuesday in a scheme that defrauded customers of nearly $500,000 to finance a lifestyle that included luxury vehicles and vacations, prosecutors said.

Larry James Black Jr., who worked as hospitality director at a restaurant in downtown Birmingham, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, the U.S. attorney's office said in a statement. Black, 37, of Center Point, is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 20.

Former Chick-fil-A manager Joshua Daniel Powell, 40, of Moody previously pleaded guilty and to a wire fraud charges and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 20.

The two men diverted $492,000 in customer payments to bank accounts they controlled in 2018, prosecutors said. Black spent the money on high-end vehicles and trips, the statement said, and he separately falsified his legitimate income from the restaurant to obtain a mortgage and purchase a home.

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