Mathew Yang
BROOKFIELD, Wis. - A Wauwatosa man is now charged with the theft of more than $1 million worth of tools from his former employer, Milwaukee Tool, according to a criminal complaint filed in Waukesha County Circuit Court.
In Court:
Court records show 31-yar-old Mathew Yang is charged with:
- Theft of movable property greater than $100,000
- Theft of movable property between $10,000 and $100,000 (seven counts)
- Theft of movable property between $5,000 and $10,000 (two counts)
- Computer crimes – modify data
- Misdemeanor theft (three counts)
Yang posted $50,000 cash bond. He is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 8.
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9,000 pounds of tools
What they're saying:
Brookfield police received a theft complaint from Milwaukee Tool in April. Court filings said the company provided information that a former employee "manipulated Milwaukee Tool's ordering systems and ordered a large quantity of tools without rendering any payment to the company."
Milwaukee Tool's customer service center received a call from a freight shipping company in March that raised attention, according to court filings. The shipping company called to confirm the delivery address for a shipment of approximately 9,000 pounds of Milwaukee Tools to a Wauwatosa apartment complex.
When customer service could not find the order in the system, it prompted Milwaukee Tool's investigation.
Waukesha County Courthouse
Orders total more than $1.4M
Dig deeper:
Yang worked in Milwaukee Tool's customer supply chain before moving to IT, court filings said, "which gave him intimate knowledge of the ordering system." Milwaukee Tool's investigation advised police that the employee "manipulated the order system to create orders that would be fulfilled and prepared by the warehouse for shipping." The employee would then delete the order information before payment processing – "thus, no payment was rendered for the orders."
The complaint said Yang created and deleted approximately 115 orders from late March 2024 to late March 2025. The vast majority of orders, totaling over $710,000, were placed in March 2025.
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Of the 115 orders, court filings said 109 shipments were delivered. The deliveries were sent to various addresses, including Yang's.
Milwaukee Tool was able to cancel and recover six shipments. The orders totaled more than $1.4 million but, with what Milwaukee Tool was able to cancel and recoup, the total loss was estimated at just over $1 million.
Milwaukee Tool also advised law enforcement that it found a spreadsheet on Yang's company laptop titled "selling list," according to court documents. It had a breakdown of information like "retail cost" and "selling price." That led investigators to believe the employee was likely reselling tools "in large volume," and he would have had direct access to and contact with Milwaukee Tool's "legitimate customer base."
The Source: FOX6 News reviewed documents filed in Waukesha County Circuit Court, including a search warrant and a criminal complaint.