SUNBURY -- A 20-year employee of Resilite Sports Products Inc., Northumberland, was arraigned Thursday on charges he sold mats to several school districts but kept the money for himself.

Vu Max Nguyen, 45, of 920 W. Boyd St., Shamokin, was charged with theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received, receiving stolen property and tampering with records in the alleged crimes, which occurred between January 2005 and November.

According to court documents, Nguyen's scheme involved sales to wrestling programs in the Athens, Shamokin and Line Mountain school districts and first came to light in October when a fellow employee noticed Nguyen transporting a loaner wrestling mat to Athens High School for what Nguyen said was a warranty problem.

When the warranty mat never came back to the factory, business owner Paul Gilbert grew suspicious and discovered there was no paperwork supporting the mat's shipment to Athens, as required by all merchandise that leaves the factory, Gilbert told police.

Gilbert then got in touch with Jay White, wrestling coach at Athens High School, who told Gilbert that Nguyen said he could get the booster club a better deal on the mat if they purchased it through him instead of through the company.

The club jumped at the deal and wrote checks for $2,000 and $1,500 to Nguyen and his now-estranged wife, Janet Eveland.

Soon after Gilbert spoke with White, he told police he received a call from Todd Hockenbroch, wrestling coach at Shamokin High School, who related a story similar to White's.

Gilbert also took a look at some of Nguyen's other dealings, which, according to court documents, involved the sale of mats to a Dalmatia wrestling club under the ownership of Alan and Sara Rutherford with no record of payment being made to Resilite.

A Resilite employee told police he remembered shipping the mats to Dalmatia, and Eveland said she remembered the transaction, but the Rutherfords, in court documents, denied the mats came from Resilite.

Nguyen was let go from Resilite on Nov. 12, 10 days after he wrote a letter apologizing for "unethical" and "unprofessional" behavior, officials said. Enclosed in the letter were two money orders for $500 each.

Nguyen has been placed in the Northumberland County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail. His preliminary hearing has been set for 2 p.m. Wednesday in District Judge Robert Bolton's office.