Voyager Express identity used in $760,000 fuel card fraud, federal indictment says

According to the indictment, as reported by FreightWaves, one of the men applied for commercial fuel credit with Coyne Oil on Aug. 13, 2025, from a Gmail address that used the carrier's name without permission. Voyager Express did not know about the application and never approved it, prosecutors say. Coyne Oil approved it and on Sept. 3, 2025, mailed eight cards to a Detroit apartment that the second man had rented in July with an altered driver's license. The cards were collected Sept. 13 and used from September 2025 through January 2026. Coyne Oil was never paid.

A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Michigan indicted both men Sept. 23, 2026, on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud and trafficking in unauthorized access devices. The indictment was unsealed Oct. 21. One defendant pleaded not guilty Nov. 3, was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond and faces a jury trial in Bay City, Michigan, starting Dec. 29. Court records do not show the other man's plea, FreightWaves reported. The charges are allegations, and both men are presumed innocent. The indictment does not say who bought the fuel or whether it was resold.

In an unrelated case, a West Virginia driver was sentenced Nov. 9. Jeffrey Jeffers, 35, of Williamstown, got two years and six months in prison and must repay $510,465.19, federal prosecutors in West Virginia's Southern District said. Jeffers, who hauled for an industrial gas supplier, admitted setting up fake service stations on online payment platforms and running more than 900 bogus fuel purchases through company cards between November 2022 and July 2024. He also admitted that his routes almost never required fueling away from the company's distribution facility.