CAMP HILL, Pa. — A Camp Hill accountant whose office was raided last Friday by local, state, and federal law enforcement agents has been charged with a total of 72 felonies, according to a criminal complaint affidavit filed by Camp Hill Police.
Brian L. Wade, 43, of Mechanicsburg, was arrested on Thursday, six days after Camp Hill Police, East Pennsboro Police, and investigators with the Attorney General's Office and the IRS served a search warrant at his Camp Hill office, located on the 3400 block of Trindle Road.
Wade is accused of failing to perform the work he'd been paid for by multiple clients, which included bookkeeping, tax preparation and filing, payroll work, and more, according to police.
He also allegedly applied for multiple credit cards in his wife's name without her consent, ran up debts on them, and did not pay them off, police claim.
He is charged with 12 counts of deceptive or fraudulent business practices, 12 counts of theft by deception, 12 counts of theft by unlawful taking, 12 counts of identity theft, 12 counts of forgery, and 12 counts of access device fraud, according to police.
Authorities began investigating Wade in June of 2023, when one of his clients contacted Camp Hill Police to report allegations of Wade's deceptive business practices. The client hired Wade in February 2020 to handle his business financials, payroll, tax preparation and filing, and other related accounting work. The client said he agreed to pay Wade $400 per month, but Wade soon began taking more and more money than initially agreed upon, claiming the overcharges were for taxes the client owed, according to the complaint.
But the client said Wade had not filed any taxes for his business since 2019, instead filing multiple extensions whenever the client asked him about it, police said.
Over the course of the investigation, police said, multiple clients of Wade's firm came forward to report similar actions. Wade would constantly give them excuses for why the accounting work he'd been hired to perform wasn't being done, the clients reported.
As of January 25, police said, a total of 14 of Wade's clients reported allegations of his deceptive business practices.
Police executed a search warrant at Wade's office on January 19. During their search, police said, investigators found multiple credit cards in the name of Wade's wife, along with numerous collection and debt notices from the credit card companies, the IRS, the state of Pennsylvania, water companies, trash companies, and the homeowners association in the development where Wade resides.
All of the notices were addressed to Wade's wife, according to police.
On Wednesday, Camp Hill Police learned Wade's wife had contacted police in Silver Spring Township to obtain a Protection From Abuse order against Wade, and contacted her for an interview regarding their investigation, the complaint states.
In her interview with Camp Hill Police, Wade's wife said she was only aware of one credit card in her name and reported that any additional cards were applied for without her knowledge or consent, according to the complaint. She was also unaware that debt collectors were attempting to contact her, police said.
Police claim their investigation determined Wade was having financial problems and believed he opened credit cards in his wife's name because he was unable to obtain further credit himself. The additional credit cards were opened in the name of Wade's wife without her consent, police believe.