A former Milwaukee Tool employee accused of stealing more than $1 million in products from the company was sentenced Aug. 7 to five years in prison and five years of extended supervision, according to online court records.
Mathew Yang, 32, was also ordered to serve nine years of probation on four additional counts and pay $1.08 million in restitution to Milwaukee Tool, 13135 W. Lisbon Road.
Yang pleaded no contest to five of the 14 charges filed against him, and a Waukesha County Circuit Court judge found him guilty of those charges. The remaining nine charges were dismissed but read in at sentencing.
He was sentenced to five years in prison followed by five years of probation on one count of theft involving property worth more than $100,000. On the other four counts, the judge imposed and stayed prison sentences and ordered Yang to serve nine years of probation.
As part of the restitution order, $133,895.38 previously seized from Yang’s bank account by the Brookfield Police Department will be applied toward the $1.08 million owed to Milwaukee Tool.
Yang was originally charged in August 2025 after investigators said he used his access to Milwaukee Tool’s ordering system to create fraudulent orders for company products and then delete the orders from the system. He had worked at Milwaukee Tool for eight years before being terminated in April 2025.
How did the investigation into Yang begin?
Brookfield police began investigating Yang on April 4, 2025, three days after he was fired from Milwaukee Tool. A company representative contacted police to report that Yang had been stealing products by creating fraudulent work orders and then deleting the orders from the company’s system.
Yang initially worked in the company’s supply line operation before moving to its IT department in 2023.
Milwaukee Tool discovered something was wrong after a carrier contacted the company with questions about a shipment of 9,000 pounds of products to a Wauwatosa residence. The address was later determined to be Yang’s home.
The company then launched an internal investigation, which found Yang had used his personal customer account number to place more than 110 orders. Products were shipped to several locations, including Yang’s home and an address associated with his sister. Investigators said Yang deleted the orders from Milwaukee Tool’s system after placing them.
A follow-up investigation ultimately determined Yang created and deleted 115 orders between late March 2024 and March 2025. Of those, 109 shipments were delivered, while Milwaukee Tool canceled and recovered six.
The orders totaled about $1.44 million worth of products. Milwaukee Tool recovered approximately $358,000, leaving the company with a loss of about $1.086 million.
Adrienne Davis is a general assignment and breaking news reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Got any tips or stories to share? Contact Adrienne at amdavis@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @AdriReportss.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Former Milwaukee Tool employee gets 5 years in $1M theft
Reporting by Adrienne Davis, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Adrienne Davis, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
