A local EQT employee is charged in connection with the theft of $215,000 from the corporation.
Brock Stanley, 39, of Shaler, stole about $216,000 from EQT and diverted it to his husband, according to a criminal complaint filed against him.
EQT, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is a leading oil and natural gas producer.
Stanley worked as a division order analyst, meaning he reviewed and processed complex title documents, problem-solved mineral ownership and title issues, and generated and maintained revenue and joint interest billing/pay decks, the complaint says.
In 2017, Stanley was employed as a contractor with DPS Penn and was contracted with EQT up until about 2020, when he began employment directly with EQT, according to the complaint.
In his role, Stanley had access to property interests and funds that sometimes sat untouched for years before being sent to the state as unclaimed property. He was able to assign interest to people for the leases, according to the complaint.
“There are orphaned interests, which are in relation to properties wherein the owner can’t be located, there are title/ownership issues, disputes between family members regarding a property, etc.,” the complaint says.
Stanley’s husband, Scott Uzlik, was identified as one of the orphaned land interest accounts, the complaint says. They got married in December 2022, the complaint says, which was when Stanley filed a conflict-of-interest form with the corporation due to his connection with Uzlik.
“Uzlik became an inherited lessor from deceased relatives, as such, Uzlik was in EQT’s system as a legitimate landowner and received royalties from his interests,” according to the complaint.
He was one of four heirs to a property in Claysville.
This information had been relayed on Stanley’s employee disclosure, conflict of interest form, the complaint says.
Stanley was working on a high-profile litigation case, the complaint says, when his supervisor, Patrick Corcoran, EQT unit development director, noticed that a certain landowner “should not have been on the pay deck” when checking Stanley’s work.
After running a query, Corcoran discovered that “a portion of the royalties held in the suspense accounts were being diverted to Uzlik as if he was the legitimate landowner,” according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges that from March 2021 through October 2025, a total of 55 payments to Uzlik were deposited in a PNC Bank account, totaling about $360,000. Out of those, about $216,000 were fraudulent and about $144,000 were legitimate.
The PNC Bank account was opened in May 2019, according to the complaint, and the money was used for payments to several credit card companies.
Corcoran said Stanley essentially “snuck these transactions through,” according to the complaint, as there were numerous other transactions taking place that needed approval as well.
On Nov. 20, Uzlik transferred $101,000 to David J Shrager. Shrager Defense Attorney represents the Stanley, and this money was transferred “for restitution to EQT Corporation,” according to the complaint.
When asked, Stanley said he “made a dumb decision,” according to the complaint.
Stanley said he diverted the funds to Uzlik because had high credit card debt and high interest loans that needed to be paid off.
“(Stanley) noted that he didn’t think anyone would notice the monies gone from these … accounts because they were so old and eventually would be going to the state,” the complaint says. The arrest papers go on to say that Stanley “did not realize he had diverted that much money.”
Stanley said Uzlik questioned him regarding the transferred funds every time he received more money, according to the complaint, and he lied to Uzlik about where it was coming from.
Uzlik is not charged in the case.
Stanley is being charged with theft by unlawful taking, dealing in the proceeds of illegal activity, receiving stolen property, theft by deception and unlawful use of computer.
