Man Pleads Guilty to Felony Embezzlement After Stealing More than $85k from Employer

NORFOLK, Va. — Noah Wilson, 35, was found guilty of embezzling more than $85,000 from his employer, a Norfolk McDonald’s franchise, following a bench trial on Wednesday, Nov. 6.

Mr. Wilson was found to have embezzled about $85,245 over the course of 13 months from the McDonald’s where he worked at 7900 Shore Drive. Mr. Wilson did this by diverting cash from change orders — a weekly process in which a manager from the franchise requests a predetermined amount of money, usually $1,000, from a cash-handling company and exchanges larger dollar bills and coins with that company for smaller bills.

Mr. Wilson worked at that McDonald’s since May 2014 and, by the time he began his scheme, was a salaried manager who placed and oversaw such weekly change orders. However, between January 2023 and February 2024, Mr. Wilson abused that authority by requesting more frequent change orders for more than the typical amount and pocketing the difference following each of the exchanges. During those 13 months, Mr. Wilson conducted 48 change orders and stole what amounted to several thousand dollars a month.

The McDonald’s where Mr. Wilson worked was one of several locations under the same owner and operators. Due to the collective volume of sales from those restaurants, the amounts of cash Mr. Wilson took on a weekly basis were at first negligible on routine financial reports across the franchise. In February 2024, the franchise’s accounting firm raised concerns to the operators about discrepancies between the franchise’s automatic bank drafts and its bank deposits, which led to a full audit of each restaurant’s records. The franchise operators found that the discrepancies were caused by the abnormal change orders Mr. Wilson had been conducting at his location.

There was only a short period of time in which the change orders proceeded as normal with no money missing, and that period lined up exactly with Mr. Wilson’s leave of absence from work (during which the franchise owner continued to pay him his full salary) because he admitted himself to a treatment facility (for which the owner also paid) for his substance use disorder.

When the franchise operators confronted Mr. Wilson about the change orders, Mr. Wilson admitted to having stolen cash but claimed that it was during a shorter time period than was true.

This McDonald’s location has since closed.

On Nov. 6, Mr. Wilson pleaded not guilty to felony embezzlement and requested to be tried by a judge. After hearing the evidence, Judge Jamilah D. LeCruise found Mr. Wilson guilty and set his sentencing hearing on Jan. 24.

“A crime does not need to involve violence to be devastating. Noah Wilson betrayed his employer’s trust and stole a major amount of money, all while taking advantage of his employer’s kindness as his employer paid for him to address his drug use,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “At sentencing we will seek a prison sentence that reflects Mr. Wilson’s repeated and brazen actions.”

Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Emily A. Woodley is prosecuting Mr. Wilson’s case, and Norfolk Police Detective Kyle B. Barnes led the investigation.

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