Former Chesterfield Town Officials Sentenced

April 30, 2010 - INDIANAPOLIS—Christopher L. Parrish, 45, of Chesterfield, James M. Kimm, 40, Joseph M. Brown, 29, and Willard A. Felts, 63, all of Anderson, were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Larry J. McKinney following their guilty pleas to theft of federal program funds in connection with three schemes resulting in the theft of over $200,000 in money belonging to the Town of Chesterfield. According to Assistant U. S. Attorney James M. Warden, who prosecuted the case for the government, the sentences imposed are as follows:

Parrish was sentenced to 37 months in prison; three years supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $202,547 for his involvement in all three schemes;

Kimm was sentenced to 28 months in prison, three years supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $164,974 for his involvement in two of the schemes;

Brown was sentenced to 10 months in prison, three years supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $115,391 for his involvement in one of the schemes; and

Felts was sentenced to two months in community confinement, five months of home detention, one year of probation, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $37,600 for his involvement in one of the schemes.

As the result of an audit conducted by the Indiana State Board of Accounts, a criminal investigation was initiated by the Indiana State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding allegations of the fraudulent receipt of funds of the Town of Chesterfield, Indiana, by the following individuals:

Christopher L. Parrish, former Clerk-Treasurer; James M. Kimm, former Town Marshal; Joseph M. Brown, former reserve police officer; and Willard A. Felts, Jr., an associate of Parrish.

The Town of Chesterfield is located in Madison County, in the Southern District of Indiana. On various occasions between March 13, 2008, and December 21, 2008, the Town of Chesterfield, Ind. received funds from the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant Program of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. The aggregate amount of such funds was nearly $225,000.

The details of the first fraud are that on 29 occasions, 27 made from December 17, 2007 and October 16, 2008, Parrish caused checks to be issued to Kimm for reimbursements for mileage for trips purportedly made by Kimm on behalf of the Town of Chesterfield. Parrish approached Kimm after Kimm had made a legitimate trip for the Town of Chesterfield and the two developed a scheme whereby Kimm would prepare and submit fictitious mileage reimbursement claims for travel that never occurred, or for travel in which Kimm used a Town of Chesterfield vehicle. Parrish and Kimm agreed that military installations would be the fictitious destinations because the Town had authorized Kimm to go to military installations in the past to pick up military surplus items. Kimm would submit the reimbursement requests to Parrish who would process the requests and cause the Town of Chesterfield to issue checks to be made payable to Kimm for the mileage reimbursements. Since Parrish maintained the reimbursement vouchers as clerk-treasurer, no other Town employees were aware of the fraud. Both Parrish and Kimm confessed that all of the reimbursements that had no accompanying receipts were fraudulent. Both Kimm and Parrish admitted that there were occasions when Kimm did not submit any paperwork related to reimbursements, but Parrish would issue checks to Kimm anyway. On other occasions, Kimm would submit fraudulent mileage reimbursement claims to Parrish. On some occasions Parrish would issue a check before Kimm submitted any documentation. Kimm would negotiate the checks, and then he and Parrish would split the money. The aggregate loss to the Town was $49,583 in this scheme.

The details of the second fraud are that on 24 occasions, 21 of them occurring between March 13, 2007 and April 4, 2008, a company known as "Brown's Automotive" invoiced the Town of Chesterfield purportedly for repairs done mainly to the Town's police car fleet. Parrish approached Kimm with the idea of this fraud. Kimm brought his half brother Joseph Brown into the fraud scheme. Together they agreed to have Brown produce fictitious invoices by a company called Brown's Automotive and submit those to the Town of Chesterfield for payment. Predominantly, they used the police car fleet as the vehicles on which work was purportedly done. Brown gave the invoice to Town Marshal Kimm who submitted them to Clerk-Treasurer Parrish for processing. On several occasions, Kimm signed the Town's vouchers attesting to the work done for the Town. On other occasions, no one signed the voucher, but since Parrish maintained the vouchers as clerk-treasurer, no other Town employees were aware of the fraud. Parrish caused the Town of Chesterfield to issue checks to Brown's Automotive. Parrish then either gave the check to Kimm or directly to Brown. Brown would subsequently go to his bank and cash or deposit the checks in an account he had set up in the name of Brown's Automotive. He would then draw out a portion of the funds that he would give to Parrish and Kimm and leave the balance for himself. Parrish, Kimm and Brown all confessed that all invoices submitted under the business name "Brown's Automotive" were fraudulent and they all admitted to splitting the money three ways. The aggregate loss to the Town was $115,391 in this scheme.

The details of the third fraud are that a company known as "J Felts" invoiced the Town of Chesterfield on 12 occasions between April 3, 2007 and November 8, 2008, purportedly for work done for the Town. Felts had originally approached his friend Parrish to request a loan. Parrish then approached Felts with a scheme whereby Parrish told Felts that Parrish would produce invoices for work purportedly done by Felt's fictitious company, J Felts, for the Town of Chesterfield. Parrish then caused the invoices to be processed and checks issued from the Town of Chesterfield's account in the name of J Felts. The invoices purported to reflect repair and maintenance work done by Felts on buildings and equipment of the Town. Parrish took the checks to Felts. Felts subsequently cashed or deposited the checks in his own bank account and subsequently turned over a portion of the money to Parrish and kept the remainder. Felts and Parrish both confessed that all invoices submitted under the name "J Felts" and "Felts and Company" were fictitious. Felts and Parrish both also admitted that Felts had done no work for the Town of Chesterfield and that they had split the money. The aggregate loss to the Town was $37,600 in this scheme.