ROANOKE, Va. — A former parts manager at Berglund Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram in Roanoke, Va., awaits sentencing after entering an Alford plea to one count of embezzlement, The Roanoke Times reports. Gregory Sherwood Thompson, 54, was accused of scrapping $248,000 worth of new catalytic converters, then selling them at a nearby recycling center.

Thompson was prosecuted by Donald Wolthuis of the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Virginia. Wolthuis said Thompson recycled nearly 600 converters in 77 transactions, at times using co-workers as intermediaries. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors agreed to drop a second embezzlement count in exchange for the Alford plea, for which a defendant maintains their innocence but acknowledges the existence of damning evidence. But Thompson owes full restitution to the dealership for the scrapped converters, for which Wolthuis said Thompson was paid only about $23,000.

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