Feb. 24. By Dave Yochum. When Will Vulcano, 66, the owner of a successful trucking company, passed away in October of 2019, Benjamin Padua Jr. of Huntersville had already begun embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from The Peninsula resident and the company Vulcano owned.

But Padua, the senior financial officer of Carrier Transicold Mid-Atlantic, was caught, tried and convicted and must serve 30 months in prison and pay more than $725,000 in restitution.

Background

From September 2019 to February 2021, Padua used not just falsified documents but phony accounting entries to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars from Vulcano’s company, Carrier Transicold.

Padua admitted that he forged Vulcano’s signature on a fake employment agreement that was backdated prior to the owner’s death. The fake employment agreement increased Padua’s compensation significantly through higher wages, bonuses and life insurance benefits.

Padua previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

According to his obituary, Vulcano was a self-made man whose philosophy was to live each day as if there was no tomorrow.

Padua took full advantage when those tomorrows were running out.

He will soon be ordered to report to the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.