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Milwaukee Tool $1M theft, employee sentenced
A man who prosecutors said stole more than $1 million worth of tools from Milwaukee Tool was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay more restitution.
WAUKESHA, Wis. - A Wauwatosa man, who prosecutors said stole more than $1 million worth of tools from his former employer, was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay more restitution on Friday, Aug. 7.
Plea and prison
In court:
Court records show Mathew Yang, 31, pleaded no contest to five felonies, including four counts of theft. Nine other charges were dismissed in a plea negotiation.
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"I especially want to apologize to my family, a lot of them behind me here. My wife, my son, my parents and my loved ones have suffered, all because of my decisions today," he said in court. "They raised me to be honest, hardworking, respectful, and instead I brought them pain and embarassment."
Matthew Yang in court on Aug. 7, 2026.
Waukesha County Judge Michael Maxwell sentenced Yang to five years in prison, followed by five years of extended supervision, for one of the felony theft counts. The judge imposed and stayed additional prison time, instead placing Yang on probation for the other felonies.
Yang was also ordered to pay Milwaukee Tool $1.08 million in restitution.
9,000 pounds of tools
The backstory:
Brookfield police received a theft complaint from Milwaukee Tool in April 2025. 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 2025 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.
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.
Milwaukee Tool
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: Information in this story is from documents filed in Waukesha County Circuit Court, including a search warrant and a criminal complaint, as well as Wisconsin Circuit Court records.