DETROIT, Michigan — Two Atlanta men have been indicted by a federal grand jury over an alleged fuel-card scheme run in the name of a Detroit trucking company, a case that lays out in unusual detail how carrier identity theft works — and why it should worry every small fleet and owner-operator. Zachary Walker and Mario Bailey were indicted on Sept. 23 on charges of trafficking in an unauthorized access device, wire fraud and mail fraud, according to reporting by MLive and CDLLife. Prosecutors allege the pair obtained eight fuel cards in the name of Voyager Express Inc., a Detroit-based interstate motor carrier and logistics provider, and ran up $760,320.19 in fuel purchases that were never paid.

Source: CDLLife (via MLive)

How the scheme allegedly worked

According to the indictment as reported by MLive, the scheme began in July 2025, when Walker rented an apartment at the Jeffersonian Apartments at 9000 E. Jefferson Avenue in Detroit. The following month, he allegedly assumed the identity of the owner of Voyager Express Inc. and used that identity to submit a credit application to Coyne Oil & Propane, a fuel supplier based in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, using a fake email address that mimicked the real company's email.

The application was approved in September 2025, and eight fuel cards were mailed to Walker's rented Detroit apartment, where Bailey later retrieved them, according to the indictment reporting. The cards were then used to purchase fuel in 23 states. The total charged — $760,320.19 — was never paid, prosecutors say. In other words, the bill for fuel burned across half the country landed on a real carrier whose name and identity had allegedly been borrowed without its knowledge.

The charges — and where the case stands

The indictment charges both men with trafficking in an unauthorized access device, wire fraud and mail fraud. Walker appeared at his initial court appearance on Nov. 3 and was freed on a $10,000 unsecured bond, CDLLife reported. The next court date for both Walker and Bailey is pending. An indictment is an allegation, not a conviction: both men are presumed innocent unless and until the government proves its case in court.

Why this matters to truckers — including Punjabi owner-operators

Fuel is the largest variable cost in trucking, and fuel cards are the industry's lifeline — which is exactly what makes them a fraud target. The alleged method here did not involve skimming a card at a pump. It involved stealing a company's identity at the credit-application stage: a lookalike email address, a rented apartment as a mailing address, and a supplier that approved credit in a real carrier's name. By the time the real company learns what happened, the charges can already run into six figures, and the carrier is left untangling its credit and its name.

The risk is highest for small fleets and single-truck owner-operators — a group that includes many Punjabi drivers working the Detroit–Windsor corridor and Midwest freight lanes out of Michigan — because a single fraudulent account can threaten the credit a small carrier needs for fuel, insurance and repairs. Federal regulators have been pushing the same point from the other side: the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's complaint system takes reports of registration-related fraud and identity theft at complaint.fmcsa.dot.gov and by phone at 1-888-DOT-SAFT (1-888-368-7238), and trucking outlets reporting this case advise carriers to confirm any credit or account contact through numbers already on file and through FMCSA records tied to their USDOT number — not through contact details supplied in a new email.

What happens next

The case now moves toward further federal court proceedings for Walker and Bailey, with the next court date still to be set, according to the reporting. Neither Voyager Express nor Coyne Oil & Propane is accused of wrongdoing — in the indictment's account, both are the parties the scheme was run against. Awaaz Punjab will follow the case as court dates are set.