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EVANSVILLE — One of the owners of a popular Evansville social networking site was sentenced Monday to 16 months in a federal criminal after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $87,000 from the company he worked for in Gibson County, Indiana.
Patrick M. Garrett, 33, accused of buying about 62 parts (adding a drone, a computer and several small motorcycles) for himself from Amazon and other companies. He then billed them to his employer, indexed in court records only as “Business 1,” without authorization, according to a U. S. District Court news release. USA
He also accused him of defrauding the company by charging him tens of thousands of dollars for paintings of non-existent structures allegedly made through Garrett Ventures LLC, a company he founded in 2018.
Garrett pleaded guilty to two counts of cable fraud, two counts of bank fraud and two counts of money laundering, according to the plea agreement filed in his case. U. S. District Court Judge Richard L. Young also ordered Garrett to pay $87,192. 84 to Business 1, waive the purchased parts and spend two years of probation.
Garrett and her husband, Richard D. Garrett, own Evansville 411 News, a social media page with more than 59,000 followers on Facebook. Garrett Ventures LLC is listed as a registered agent of the company in the records of the Indiana Secretary of State.
But in a post subsequently deleted on Courier’s Facebook page
“The rating of the page under your ‘company’ was done without the consent of the other administrators, as we do the actual paintings for the page,” they said.
Starting in 2021: Evansville 411 News Arrested for Drug Trafficking After Fatal Shooting
An indictment opposed to Patrick Garrett, such as plea agreement and press release, laid out the case.
Garrett worked as a “sales specialist” for Business 1, the indictment says. It would have been guilty of managing “accounts payable and accounts receivable” and entering billing information so that Business 1 only pays its suppliers.
Authorities say he used Business 1’s Amazon account to make dozens of unauthorized purchases between April and July 2021. The purchases ranged from an iPad to several off-road motorcycles, all of which he kept for use, the indictment says.
“Garrett entered false or altered data about those purchases into his employer’s accounting formula to conceal the fraud,” the press said.
Officials also said Garrett “created false invoices digitally” to qualify Business 1 for false structure work. Company 1 presented Garrett with two checks totaling more than $49,000. Garrett then deposited that cash into Garrett Ventures’ bank account, according to the plea agreement.
According to the press release, “nothing was ever provided through Garrett Ventures to Garrett’s employer. “
Investigators also said Garrett used the cash to buy a 2008 Pontiac Solstice from a Tennessee car dealership for $11,795. He then allegedly sold the car for $5,000, according to the indictment.
In April, Patrick and Richard Garrett pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine, possessing a syringe and illegally possessing a controlled substance in Vanderburgh County Court, according to court records. They were sentenced to DAP (Drug and Alcohol Deferral Services) in Vanderburgh. County.
The convictions date back to Sept. 14, 2021, when the two Garretts were arrested for drug trafficking after a fatal shooting at their Evansville home.
According to police, Richard Garrett admitted to shooting and killing 29-year-old Douglas Todd Fulkerson. He asserted self-defense. State fees were never charged for the shooting.
4:30 p. m. : This story was updated with Evansville 411 News that the Garretts are no longer part of the company.
This article was originally published on Evansville Courier