A Greenwood, Indiana, man was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison last week for stealing more than $2.7 million from an Indianapolis construction company through fake invoices.
Troy L. Sissom, 53, pleaded guilty to one count each of mail fraud and making a false tax return.
In 2000, Sissom started working as a project manager for FA Wilhelm Construction Co. Inc. in Marion County, according to court documents. His job was to oversee construction projects, which included worker management, material delivery at job sites and cost estimates.
About three years into his work for Wilhelm, Sissom started stealing. He created a fictional company, LTEE Source. Sissom wrote fake invoices for construction materials from his fictional company, which billed Wilhelm.
Although several superintendents worked with Sissom at job sites where LTEE Source submitted invoices, “none of these superintendents were familiar with LTEE Source or recall ever accepting a delivery from the company,” court documents state.
Sissom would use Wilhelm’s accounting system to approve the invoices, and he often hand-delivered them to the accounting department. Checks to LTEE Source were then sent to a commercial UPS mailbox registered to LTEE source, but the mailbox was owned and maintained by Sissom. The checks were then deposited into LTEE Source bank accounts, which were held under Sissom’s wife’s name and his own.
Sissom and his wife used the money the write new checks to himself, which he signed with the fake name Lee Little. Court documents show he often used the money to pay off credit card debt. From 2003 to 2015, Sissom submitted 185 false invoices and embezzled more than $2.7 million, according to court documents.
“Internal theft costs all consumers through higher prices on goods and services,” United States Attorney Josh Minkler said in a press release. “Fraud, tax evasion, and other white collar crimes, (sic.) are offenses which ultimately take money out of the pockets of hard working Hoosiers and such crimes will be aggressively prosecuted by this office.”
In tax returns between 2010 and 2014, Sissom did not report income from his thefts. The total loss from the Internal Revenue Service was more than $381,000.
The IRS-Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated this case. They interviewed Sissom’s co-workers and went through all the fraudulent invoices he submitted.
“IRS-Criminal Investigation is committed to stopping criminals engaged in tax fraud,” James D. Robnett, Special Agent in Charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation said in a press release. “The investigation of Mr. Sissom proves no matter how hard criminals try to hide their fraud, IRS-CI special agents will uncover it.”
Sissom must serve two years of supervised release following his sentence, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney James M. Warden, who prosecuted this case for the government. He will also have to make full restitution to Wilhelm Construction and pay the entire tax liability to the government.
