MACON, Ga. — A mother and son duo — who plead guilty to fraud charges after stealing $3.6 million from a Macon business over the course of 10 years — are due in court on Wednesday, court records show.
Eva and Billy Wells are scheduled to learn their sentence during a hearing before U.S. District Judge C. Ashley Royal. The hearing, scheduled for 10:30 a.m., will take place at the federal courthouse on Mulberry Street.
According to court documents, Eva Wells was the office manager for Mid-Georgia Sales, and as part of her job, she was in charge of handling payroll.
That portion of her job gave her a very powerful tool: the president/CEO's signature stamp.
On top of handing out authorized checks to employees, Wells — alongside her son, Billy — cut 1,400 unauthorized checks made out to either her son and herself, arrest warrants suggest.
Mid-Georgia Sales, a wholesale distributor of beer and wine, has since gone out of business.
All told, $3.4 million in checks were made payable to Billy and just under $222,000 were made payable to Eva, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Georgia alleges.
After repeated scheduling delays over the Wells' medical issues, Royal issued a curt statement in court filings, saying he had seen the medical records and saw no reason to hold up the proceedings any further.
Now, they're set to appear in court Wednesday morning, where they'll learn their sentence on their fraud charges. According to prosecutors, the Wells face up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding a financial institution.
Billy also faces up to another 5 years in prison after pleading guilty to filing a false tax return.