A man from New Albany was convicted for stealing from his employer more than $1.2 million

New Albany, Indiana – After confessing to stealing more than $1.2 million from his business, a man from New Albany was given a federal prison sentence.

Caleb Keller, 38, admitted guilt to charges of wire fraud and money laundering and was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to a press statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana.

Keller will be obliged to reimburse the company $1,210,120 as part of the sentencing. For work they thought was done by “fictitious employees of Keller’s business,” the employer paid Keller that sum.

According to the press release, Keller started working for his employer in 2011. Keller used his side company, Polyglot Developers, to fabricate and submit 101 fraudulent and fictitious invoices to his employer between April 2017 and June 2021.

For Polyglot, Miller made up the identities of two bogus workers, Grant Miller and Matt Pearson, and then used those identities to write fake bills to his company for work that Pearson and Miller completed. According to the press announcement, this includes an April 2019 billing for $19.940.

Keller used a video filter to pretend to be Pearson during a Zoom call when his employer started to get suspicious. According to the release, it became clear throughout the encounter that Pearson was not who he claimed to be and that Keller was the real person.

“Following the meeting, Keller was fired and his employer’s relationship with Polyglot was terminated,” the release said.

Keller disclosed to law enforcement in April 2022 that Pearson and Miller were real workers. A few months later, Keller acknowledged that he had pretended to be Pearson during the call and that the employees had been frauds.

Keller’s employer paid Keller about $1,210,120 for the labor performed by the fictional employees over a period of several years. Keller paid for personal costs with the money.

“Trusted employees can cause tremendous harm to a business when they exploit their positions to steal and cover it up,” Zachary A. Myers, the U.S. attorney for the southern district of Indiana, said in the release. “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.”