Co-owner of popular Evansville social media site sentenced to prison for fraud
EVANSVILLE – One of the owners of a popular Evansville social media site was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison Monday after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $87,000 from the Gibson County, Indiana, company for which he worked.
Patrick M. Garrett, 33, was accused of buying some 62 items – including a drone, a laptop and multiple small motorcycles – for himself from Amazon and other businesses. He then charged them to his employer, listed in court records only as “Business 1," without authorization, a news release from U.S. District Court states.
He was also accused of defrauding the business by billing it for tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of nonexistent construction work allegedly performed by Garrett Ventures LLC, a company he created in 2018.
Garrett pleaded guilty to two counts of wire 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 pay $87,192.84 to Business 1, forfeit the purchased items, and undergo two years of probation.
Garrett and his 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 the company's registered agent in Indiana Secretary of State records.
But in a since-deleted statement posted to the Courier & Press' Facebook page, Evansville 411 News said Richard and Patrick Garrett no longer worked for the company.
"The filing of the page under their 'business' was done without the other administrators' consent, as we do the actual work for the page," they said.
From 2021:'Evansville 411 News' owners arrested on drug charges after deadly shooting
Purchases and invoices
An indictment against Patrick Garrett, as well as a plea agreement and the news release, lay out the case.
Garrett worked as “sales specialist” for Business 1, the indictment states. He was reportedly responsible for handling “accounts payable and accounts receivable,” and entering invoice data so Business 1 could pay its vendors.
Authorities claim he used Business 1’s Amazon account to make scores of unauthorized purchases between April and July of 2021. The purchases ranged from an iPad to multiple dirt bikes – all of which he kept for personal use, the indictment states.
"Garrett entered false or altered information about these purchases into his employer’s accounting system to conceal the fraud," the news release states.
Officials also said Garrett “digitally created false invoices” to bill Business 1 for fake construction work. Business 1 eventually cut Garrett two checks totaling more than $49,000. Garrett then deposited that money into Garrett Ventures’ bank account, according to the plea agreement.
According to the news release, “no services were ever provided by Garrett Ventures to Garrett’s employer."
Investigators also said Garrett used money from the checks to buy a 2008 Pontiac Solstice from a Tennessee car dealership for $11,795. He then reportedly sold the car for $5,000, the indictment states.
In April, both Patrick and Richard Garrett pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine, possession of a syringe and unlawful possession of a controlled substance in Vanderburgh County court, according to court records. They were sentenced to Vanderburgh County’s Drug and Alcohol Deferral Services, or DAPs.
The convictions stemmed from Sept. 14, 2021, when both Garretts were arrested on drug charges after a deadly shooting at their Evansville home.
According to police, Richard Garrett admitted to shooting and killing 29-year-old Douglas Todd Fulkerson. He claimed self-defense. No state charges were ever filed in the shooting.
4:30 p.m.: This story was updated with Evansville 411 News' statement saying the Garretts are no longer with the company.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Owner of popular Evansville social media site sentenced to prison
