Man pleads guilty to embezzling over $85,000 from Norfolk McDonald’s

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – A man has pled guilty to felony embezzlement after stealing over $85,000 from his employer at a Norfolk McDonald's.

According to a release, 35-year-old Noah Zachariah Wilson was found to have embezzled $85,245 over the course of 13 months from the McDonald's at 7900 Shore Drive.

Police said Wilson would divert cash from change orders, a weekly process where managers request a predetermined amount of money to exchange larger dollar bills and coins for smaller bills.

Wilson, who had been working at the McDonald's since May of 2014, began his scheme between January 2023 and February 2024 while working as a salaried manager through requesting more orders than necessary and for more than the typical amount, pocketing the difference. During the course of his scheme, Wilson was found to have conducted 48 change orders.

It took until February for the franchise's accounting firm to raise concerns on the discrepancies, ultimately leading to an audit where they found that the differences were caused due to Wilson's actions.

During the investigation, it was found that there was only a short period of time where the change orders were processed normally, which happened to line up with Wilson's leave of absence after admitting himself into a treatment facility for his substance abuse disorder.

After being confronted, Wilson admitted to stealing the cash, but said that it was over the course of a shorter period of time.

Since then, the McDonald's has closed.

On Nov. 6, Wilson pled guilty to felony embezzlement as charged in exchange for the Commonwealth to not bring additional embezzlement indictments.

"A crime does not need to involve violence to be devastating," Commonwealth's Attorney Ramin Fatehi said. "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. At sentencing we will seek a prison sentence that reflects Mr. Wilson's repeated and brazen actions.

Wilson's sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 24.