The ex-director of an Arizona truck driving school is facing multiple felony charges for allegedly swindling his students and the school out of nearly $1 million.
Former Trucking School Boss Faces Numerous Fraud Charges
Sixty-nine year old Robert Alan Knapp has been charged with sixteen felonies for offenses including bank fraud, student aid fraud, and aggravated identity theft, according to the Arizona Daily Star.
He is also facing a civil suit brought forth by the owner of the trucking school related to the fraud accusations. The complaint also names the bank Wells Fargo, which is accused of accepting the fraudulent checks, and the school’s accountants, who is accused of failing to warn the school’s owner of the fraud. Well Fargo and the accountants have denied these allegations.
Earlier this month, Knapp plead not guilty to those charges in a U.S. District Court in Tucson.
Alleged Fraud Uncovered When Student Fails To Receive Check
Knapp acted as the director for the HDS Truck Driving Institute in Tucson for more than a decade. He stands accused of diverting checks from the school into a separate business account that he kept hidden from the owner of the trucking school.
The alleged scheme was uncovered in 2014 when a student failed to receive a federal student loan check. Investigators traced the missing check to the bank account reportedly set up by Knapp. Knapp was fired from HDS Truck Driving Institute in 2015.
According to the federal case against him, Knapp diverted $900,000 away from the school over the course of seven years. The civil suit says that claims that Knapp’s alleged scheme diverted $983,240 from the school.
Witnesses say that Knapp is a frequent gambler, according to court reports.
Knapp will appear in federal court to face the felony charges before a jury on October 11. The civil suit will come to trial next summer.