Charles and Lynda Wilson set up a fictitious collection agency while he worked as a credit manager for the newspaper

Former Tampa Tribune employee and his wife have been charged with bilking the paper's parent company out of more than $1 million over a period of 10 years.Charles and Lynda Wilson set up a fictitious collection agency while he worked as a credit manager for the newspaper, the Secret Service said. Charles Wilson was responsible for collecting debt from advertisers.Wilsons used the shell agency, CCL Services, to charge Media General (nyse: MEG - news - people ) Inc. collection services, said John Joyce, special agent in charge of the Secret Service's Tampa field office.
In addition, Charles Wilson would divert refund checks to advertisers into his own account.Joyce said the fictitious collection agency was in operation from 1998 to 2008, when the scheme was discovered. In all, the couple received more than $1 million in fraudulent payments.Wilsons turned themselves in to the Secret Service on Thursday and were charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud. They were each released on $75,000 signature bond.