York County woman, facing $1M embezzlement allegations, heads to court

A woman accused of embezzling nearly $1 million from two former employers is on track to potentially face a jury in her case in Maryland.

Phuong Nguyen-Davis, 56, is charged in both York County and Howard County, Maryland, after two companies alleged last year she stole thousands of dollars while she was an employee.

Executives at Hellam Township-based Advanced Fluid Systems Inc. first reported thefts to police at the end of May 2022. An investigation found she allegedly embezzled $915,045 over about five years.

About half that amount was charged through company credit cards to an online business Nguyen-Davis apparently set up, police alleged. AFS funds were then used to pay off the bills.

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Investigators also uncovered charges for flights, car leases, appliances, groceries, medical appointments and apparently electric bills to a home in York Township.

The investigation found Nguyen-Davis had opened several credit cards billed to AFS without authorization.

As company executives started to become suspicious last May, Nguyen-Davis allegedly walked away from the employer right before Memorial Day, a couple of days before the thefts were reported, according to charging documents.

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She then went to Howard County, where she was hired by aerospace company, Aerolab, a month later while the Hellam Township investigation was underway.

Aerolab executives told Howard County police that by last August, they found fraudulent charges made to company debit cards issued to Nguyen-Davis, charging documents show.

Charges included those for an Airbnb stay, airline tickets, hotels and Amazon purchases, according to police. Nguyen-Davis was also accused of making several charges to a PayPal account and then using company money to pay those bills.

A company audit uncovered $11,670 in fraud from Aerolab over two months last summer, according to police.

She allegedly left the company when the CEO confronted her about the card charges.

In the criminal cases, Nguyen-Davis was first charged in York County last August. She now faces eight felony counts of theft, illegal access to a device and using a counterfeit device.

The Howard County case was filed a couple months later, charging her with two felony counts of theft and theft scheme, as well as a misdemeanor embezzling count, court records show.

A district court hearing in that case was canceled Tuesday after Nguyen-Davis’ attorney in Maryland requested a jury trial, according to the Howard County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson. The case then advanced to the county’s circuit court.

The next hearing there is now set for Feb. 27.

But before that, Nguyen-Davis is due back in York County for a plea court hearing in the case involving AFS on Monday, court documents show.

She also still has a bench warrant out for her in York County on allegations she failed to appear for a court hearing on Dec. 16 in a separate cost contempt case, the sheriff’s office’s website shows.

In that case, Nguyen-Davis is accused of failing to pay more than $159,000 in outstanding restitution from three decade-old cases.

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She had pleaded guilty to embezzling from three former employers and was sentenced in those cases in March 2014 to jail time, probation and restitution.

Court records show she made about $8,500 in payments over about eight years, through last July. But with the balance still outstanding, the cost contempt case was filed in 2019.

Nguyen-Davis is free on bonds in both the York County and Howard County cases, according to court documents.

— Reach Aimee Ambrose at aambrose@yorkdispatch.com or on Twitter at @aimee_TYD.