Sales agent accused of stealing $400,000 from Kennewick glass services company

A sales agent working for a Kennewick glass services company allegedly pocketed $400,000 over the course of three years.

Pedro Rojas Jr., 41, is charged with first-degree theft in Benton County Superior Court.

He was supposed to come to Benton County Superior Court on Wednesday to enter a plea. When he didn’t show up, Judge Diana Ruff ordered an arrest warrant.

He is accused of siphoning money from his employer, Tri-City Glass between 2019 and 2022. While he repaid about $80,000, court documents said he refused to pay any more.

Company staff noticed a discrepancy on an invoice in March 2022. A customer paid about $315 for work from the company, but only $43 was deposited into the account, court documents said.

As they looked at more invoices, they discovered the theft dated back to 2019.

After identifying the missing money, they confronted the sales agent, Pedro Rojas, about the transactions.

They found that Rojas would do the work on behalf of the company, and give the client the correct billing invoice, court documents said. When Rojas got a cash payment, he would change the invoice to show a smaller amount of cash going to the company. He pocketed the rest.

Staff estimate that he took a total of $400,000 using that method.

He initially blamed the missing money on other employees who were accused of stealing cash. After more questioning, he allegedly admitted to talking $200,000.

Court documents said the company and Rojas reached an agreement where he would “repay an extensive shortfall that had arisen from Mr. Rojas evidently taking cash and shorting billing invoices.”

After paying $80,000 back, Rojas allegedly stopped.

The company’s owner, Tony Wise, was a beloved local referee who died in 2024 after a long battle with cancer.