Man pleads guilty to defrauding Minnesota-based retailer

A California man pleaded guilty Tuesday to defrauding his former employer, a Minnesota-based retailer.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says 32-year-old Michael John Gennarelli was a sales consultant and mobile supervisor for the company when he illegally accessed the company’s network and got sales receipt information from expensive purchases. He then created several fake accounts with the company’s customer loyalty program, entered the stolen receipts’ information and claimed the rewards for those purchases.

Altogether, prosecutors say Gennarelli gave himself $467,307 in company rewards and redeemed $393,200 of those for merchandise and gift cards at the company.

His sentencing for one count of wire fraud hasn’t yet been set.