MACON, Ga. — After about five years, a federal judge sentenced a mother-and-son to federal prison for stealing about $3.6 million dollars from their employer, Mid-Georgia Sales.
Eva Rebecca Wells was sentenced to almost four years in prison, and her son Billy Wells was sentenced to almost five.
Former employee Ray Rover started at Mid-Georgia Sales in 1997, and worked with both of them over the years.
"What they did was unfounded. No reason for it. They were both well-paid, and well-compensated," Rover said.
The judge called their actions evil, and said he's seen more victim statements in this case than he's seen in about 20 years.
The Wells' pleaded guilty to taking millions of dollars from the beverage company, Mid-Georgia Sales.
Former employees showed up in court to see the Wells get sentenced. Eva worked there for about 40 years, and cut more than 14,000 unauthorized checks to herself and her son from 2009 to 2019.
Her son worked there for about 20 years, starting there as a teenager and working his way up to the IT and sales department. In court, Billy's attorney said he was under a lot of pressure at work, and didn't have enough resources. They said his responsibility consumed him, which lead to his theft.
Rover disagrees about his amount of responsibilities.
"The fact that he had some part of keeping the company afloat - it was the people that worked, and delivered, and sold, those are the ones that kept the company afloat," Rover said.
He said they were both trusted, loved, and respected at the company before anyone realized what they'd done.
One of the victim statements read in court came from former co-owner, Alice Sheridan Smith. She said the stress and worry from the thefts affected her so much, it took a toll on her physical health.
"I really thought at one time that I was not gonna - either I was gonna be in the hospital, or I was gonna die because of what they'd done," Sheridan Smith said.
Her dad started the business in 1959, and she said they always treated the Wells like family.
"The biggest hurt we had was the owner of our company, Dennis Hansen, who loved all of us, forgave us all, worked with us all, did so many things for every employee there," Rover said.
In court, the Wells' attorneys said they were remorseful and sorry about what they did. Billy's attorney said that he found God again, and was baptized recently. Both asked for house confinement, due to age and medical problems.
The judge refused, and said they could receive the medical treatment they needed behind bars.
"In this case, the wheels of justice were slow, but they were firm. And the judge, he weighed out all the options and I believe he took the most powerful stance," Rover said.
On top of prison time, the judge ordered the Wells to pay back more than $2 million dollars in restitution.
After the thefts, the owners of Mid-GA Sales sold their company to new owners. That company kept their employees, but operate under a new name.