Three Georgia men have been indicted on fraud and money laundering charges for their alleged roles in a scheme that bilked the Temple Inland paper mill out of more than $4.8m by tricking it into paying for non-existent lumber. Aaron Freeman, 49, of Rome, masterminded the scheme, which was supported by Kevin Fields, 31, Jason Joseph, 32, and several other men. According to court documents, the Temple Inland paper mill outside Rome processed hundreds of truckloads of timber every day. Freeman worked for the company as a scale house operator, weighing incoming and outgoing tractor-trailers to determine how much timber they had delivered. Between June 2003 and June 2006, he allegedly manipulated the scales to credit complicit drivers with delivering "phantom" truckloads of timber.
"Freeman recruited drivers who were able to obtain payment from their brokers for the phantom timber loads. The drivers then shared their payments with Freeman," the indictment said.
Fields and Joseph were the
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