A 22-year-old Worland man is accused of racking up nearly $20,000 in charges in less than a month to his former employer’s accounts at businesses around town, including forging the signature of a former supervisor on receipts.
Sterling J. Chavis was scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Washakie County Circuit Court on Thursday on three felony theft charges and one of felony forgery, according to court documents.
When Worland Police Department officers caught up with Chavis after a multi-day investigation, they found items bought at a local auto parts store at his home and on his truck, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Worland Police Officer Jake Roub.
“Sterling stated that during his time working for (the local business), he did have access to the credit account and used it on the company’s behalf,” Roub wrote.
Chavis also admitted signing for more than $9,350 worth of items from NAPA Auto Parts, nearly $2,750 at Bomgaars, and $7,600 at the Worland Ace Hardware, the affidavit says.
Those charges were all made between Sept. 10 through Oct. 26, the affidavit says. However, his employment and authorization to charge things to those accounts ended Sept. 4 after about three months on the job, according to the affidavit.
Charges Get Noticed
The investigation began last week when someone with Chavis’ former employer reported a suspected theft after noticing unapproved items charged to NAPA, the affidavit says.
That ultimately led to discovering the charges at the other businesses.
“On some of the charges, Chavis used his employee ID number as the purchase number,” Roub wrote.
After WPD Investigator Richard Fernandez was adding up the NAPA receipts, which came to $9,359.57, the former employer called back about discovering more charges at Bomgaars.
It was there Chavis allegedly forged the signature of his former supervisor, the affidavit says.
“The charges to the Worland Bomgaars started 9/24/26 and continued to 10/13/26,” the document says. “The person listed as the signer was (the supervisor who) … did not authorize the charges.”
That was enough to get a search warrant for Chavis’ home in the 800 block of Culbertson Avenue, Roub wrote.
Car Parts On His Truck
“Many of the items listed in the receipts were located sitting in plain view in the driveway,” the affidavit says. “I spoke with Sterling’s girlfriend, who stated Sterling was not home but … he will be home shortly.”
When Chavis arrived, he was advised of why police were there and arrested, Roub wrote. Then police checked the truck he was driving.
“A search was done on Sterling’s truck,” the affidavit says. “Many of the car parts listed from NAPA were on the vehicle Sterling was driving.”
Also during that search, “multiple receipts from Ace Hardware were located in the vehicle charged to (his former employer),” according to the affidavit.
After checking with Ace, Fernandez determined Chavis had allegedly used the business account to buy more than $7,600 worth of items.
Police say Chavis didn’t deny making the charges, and said NAPA, Bomgaars and Ace were the only places he did that.
“I asked Sterling why he signed in (the supervisor’s) name, and he stated he only did that at Bomgaars because that’s what he was told to do previously,” Roub wrote.
Each of the felony charges calls for maximum sentences of up to 10 years in prison, fines up to $10,000, or both.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
