The former vice president of a Rancho Cordova construction company was found guilty Tuesday in federal court of stealing more than $110,000 from the firm.

On the sixth day of trial, a jury of seven men and three women adjudged Thomas Tanke guilty on two counts of mail fraud and five counts of bank fraud. The panel deliberated 4½ hours over two days before returning its verdict early Tuesday afternoon.

The 67-year-old Tanke, once a resident of El Dorado Hills, claimed that at least part of the money was compensation in lieu of a higher salary, but the owner of Azteca Construction Inc., Rafael Martin, said that was not true.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Carlberg asked that Tanke, who has been on pretrial release, be jailed pending sentencing on March 2, based on "evidence of the defendant's perjury during the trial." U.S. District Judge Edward J. Garcia obliged.

"Frankly, I think the defendant is in denial" and a potential flight risk, the judge said. "The evidence against him is overwhelming."

"I'm not deciding yet whether he committed perjury," Garcia added.

Tanke oversaw certain Azteca business operations, managed construction on various California projects, and approved payments to vendors and suppliers.

According to a trial brief filed by Carlberg earlier this month, between February and June in 2004 Tanke diverted seven checks to his own business bank account, even though they were issued by third-party purchasers of equipment and were payable to Azteca, Martin or Construction Equipment Rental & Services, an entity owned by Martin's wife, Rosa, that leased equipment to Azteca.

Tanke also caused approximately 23 Azteca checks to be issued as payments to his personal creditors, according to Carlberg's brief. In some instances, the brief says, he submitted false invoices to suggest that the payments were for legitimate company expenses.

For example, he submitted invoices on payments to "AFS," purportedly for a construction project. In reality, "AFS" was "Audi Financial Services" and Tanke was paying off his vehicle loan.

Among other expenditures, Tanke bought jewelry and an expensive bicycle using company checks, the brief says.

It was not the first time he was caught using stolen money to acquire a high-end bicycle, according to the brief. In 1992, it says, while an employee of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, Tanke misappropriated $1,588 of commission funds to buy a bicycle, and more than $1,000 for other personal items.

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