Not guilty verdict reached in AMX theft case

Matt Ludlam rushed into his family’s arms and enjoyed a long embrace Wednesday morning, moments after a Houston County jury found him not guilty of two counts of first degree theft.

Ludlam’s attorney said the verdict provided vindication and some solace for a man he said was inadvertently caught up in a scam created by his brother, who is awaiting trial on theft charges.

“What you had here was one brother trusting his older brother,” said Joey Sheffield, Matt Ludlam’s attorney. “And in the end, it was (Matt) just doing his job that ended up getting his brother caught.”

Matt Ludlam, who had been an employee at AMX trucking in Ashford since 2001, was reassigned to a job that his brother, Billy, had for years. Billy Ludlam left AMX in December of 2007 for another job. Billy Ludlam has been indicted on charges that he, while running what is known as the “shop” at AMX, conjured a fictitious tire company and then generated fake work orders for work done on the company’s trucks while they were out on the road. The checks cut by AMX to the business known as “National Tire Company” wound up back in Billy Ludlam’s possession and were deposited into a bank account in his name, authorities have said. Prosecutors believe the scheme had gone undetected for almost 10 years and cost the company more than $2 million.

Not long after Matt Ludlam was reassigned, one of the National Tire Company checks was sent to an invalid address and returned to the company, raising a red flag with other employees. When AMX management looked into the company, they discovered it did not exist.

Matt Ludlam signed off on seven of the National Tire Company work orders, resulting in two checks being written to the company, one for about $14,000 and the other for about $11,000. Soon after the first check was written, Billy Ludlam wrote a check to Matt Ludlam for more than $2,000 out of an account in the name of Billy Ludlam and National Tire Company. Matt said he never noticed the name on the check and that Billy often provided financial assistance to the family.

Matt Ludlam said he trusted the authenticity of the account for the same reason other AMX employees did — they trusted Billy.

“Everybody at AMX trusted Billy,” Sheffield said.

Matt Ludlam declined comment.