NEW ALBANY, Ind. — A southern Indiana man was sentenced to over a year in federal prison after he said he stole over $1 million from his employer over four years.
Chief U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt sentenced Caleb Keller, 38, of New Albany to 20 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering.
Keller began working for his former employer in 2011, soon after graduating college. According to court documents, between April 2017 and June 2021, Keller fabricated over 100 false and fraudulent invoices to his employer using his side business, Polyglot Developers.
After encouraging his employer to contract with Polyglot, he created two fictitious employees, "Matt Pearson" and "Grant Miller." Keller then drafted false invoices, billing his employer for services allegedly performed by the two fake employees.
For example, court documents say in April 2019, Keller submitted a $19,940 invoice to his employer for services allegedly rendered by four employees, including $15,200 for services allegedly rendered by the two fictitious employees.
When an executive at his employer became suspicious of the fake employees and demanded a meeting with “Matt Pearson,” Keller pretended to be Pearson on a Zoom call by using a video filter.
During the meeting, the executive said it was obvious that Pearson was not real and that the person pretending to be Pearson was actually Keller. After the meeting, Keller was fired and his employer’s relationship with Polyglot was terminated.
In April 2022, Keller was interviewed by investigators and insisted that Pearson and Miller were actual employees who provided services to his employer. In July 2022, Keller was interviewed again and admitted that the two employees were fake and that he had impersonated Pearson on the Zoom call.
Keller’s employer paid Keller approximately $1,210,120 for work they believed was completed by fictitious employees of Keller’s business. Keller used the fraudulently obtained money to pay for personal expenses.
“Trusted employees can cause tremendous harm to a business when they exploit their positions to steal and cover it up,” Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said. “Protecting Hoosiers and Hoosier businesses from fraud is a top priority for federal law enforcement. Thanks to the efforts of the FBI, IRS-CI, and our federal prosecutor, this criminal has been accountable for his actions. The federal prison sentence imposed here should be a warning to would-be fraudsters that economic crimes can lead to paying a very serious price.”
As well as the prison sentence and mandatory supervised release, Judge Pratt also ordered Keller to pay $1,210,120 in restitution to the victim business.
