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STANSBURY PARK — A Tooele County man was found dead in his home Tuesday as federal agents attempted to serve a warrant accusing him of illegally selling materials he stole from Intermountain Health.
A federal grand jury recently charged Preston Wade Carr, 53, with 16 counts of wire fraud and money laundering. He is accused of receiving nearly $1.5 million over a five-year period by selling mainly baby formula and CPAP masks online and using that money to purchase cars, comic books and more, according to charging documents.
Prosecutors say Carr "worked as a materials specialist for Intermountain Homecare and Hospice" from 2003 until October 2019, and "was responsible for managing the inventory of supplies at IHC's warehouse, including ordering items from vendors and sending items out to IHC's clinics and hospitals."
Starting in 2014, Carr "used his position to steal infant formula and CPAP masks" and sold the items online, the charges allege. "Carr's gross proceeds from the scheme totaled approximately $1,449,275.63. Carr used the proceeds from the scheme for his own personal benefit, to include payments for vehicles, property, comic books and travel."
Prosecutors say Carr used his position at Intermountain to order excess inventory, and then sold that excess inventory for his own gain.
"Carr then omitted the stolen product from IHC's inventory records to avoid detection. Carr received payment via PayPal for the stolen products," according to the charges.
In the court documents, prosecutors said they intended to seize property purchased with the illegal money, including a 2019 Jaguar E-Pace, a 2016 Toyota Camry, his home at 464 Winchester Drive in Stansbury Park and "comic books and collectibles."
A court order authorizing the seizure of the vehicles was signed on Jan. 23. Carr was scheduled to make an initial appearance in federal court on Jan. 24. When he failed to show up, an arrest warrant was issued.
On Tuesday, FBI agents arrived at Carr's residence to serve the warrant.
"Upon arriving on scene, law enforcement made entry into the (house). Defendant Preston Carr was found deceased with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in a bedroom. In the kitchen, the title to both vehicles that are the subject of the seizure warrants, and the keys to both vehicles were observed next to (an officer's) business card with a handwritten note on the back of the business card," according to the warrant.
A spokeswoman for the FBI said agents did not fire any shots. It is not clear in court documents how long Carr had been deceased when his body was found.
Intermountain Health also released a brief statement Wednesday.
"This is a sad and unfortunate situation. We learned about this when internal controls uncovered this illegal behavior. Once this was discovered, Mr. Carr's employment was terminated in 2019 and we notified the authorities. No patients were harmed because of this illegal activity."
