Carmel man agrees to guilty plea in $952,000 theft case

Indiana Flooring and Linoleum Co. Inc.

An Anderson-based flooring company’s former accountant, who is accused of embezzling nearly $1 million from the company between 2020 and 2022, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of fraud.

The defendant in the case is Nathaniel D. Wills of Carmel, who formerly lived in Anderson and served as director of administration at Indiana Flooring and Linoleum Co. Inc. The company does business as Indiana Carpet One Floor and Home.

According to the plea agreement, filed last week in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Indiana, between August 2020 and February 2022, Wills took $952,237 of company money for his own personal use, including for gambling.

The offense carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, followed by up to three years of supervised release, plus a $250,000 fine. But prosecutors have agreed to seek a sentence of no more than three years and five months of prison time, the plea agreement says, provided that the defendant continues to accept full responsibility for the offense and does not commit a new criminal offense before sentencing.

Wills has also agreed to pay restitution of $877,508 to his former employer, the agreement says.

Wills’ attorney, Tim Delaney of Bose McKinney & Evans LLP, declined IBJ’s request for comment on the case.

The court has not yet approved the plea agreement. Wills is set for an initial court appearance on June 17.

The plea agreement does not identify the company by name, referring to it as “Company A,” an Indiana-based flooring and installation business.

But Indiana Flooring and Linoleum filed its own civil suit against Wills in March 2022, and that case outlines the allegations in more detail than does the federal plea agreement.

In the civil case, which is pending in Madison Circuit Court, Indiana Flooring alleges that Wills treated the company “as his personal piggy bank,” taking money from the company’s line of credit, operating accounts and Payroll Protection Program federal loan proceeds.

The plaintiff also alleges that Wills refrained from paying the company’s suppliers, insurance providers, the Indiana Department of Revenue and the company’s 401(k) retirement account funder so that there would be more money in the company’s bank accounts for Wills to steal.

Wills altered the company’s financial records to cover up his actions, the civil suit alleges.

Indiana Flooring’s owners did not suspect Wills of theft, the civil suit says. But after reviewing their company’s financial records and reports, they had questions about the company’s financial situation and asked Wills to discuss it with them, the lawsuit alleges.

Wills agreed to a meeting, but he came to work the weekend before the meeting and “cleaned out his office, destroyed all paperwork, and erased his computer to cover his tracks,” the lawsuit alleges. Wills then resigned an hour before the meeting was to have taken place, the suit alleges.

After Wills’ resignation, the company took a closer look at its financial records and discovered the theft, the suit alleges.

The theft put Indiana Flooring into “financial jeopardy on multiple fronts,” the suit says, forcing one of the owners to use personal cash and seek out loans to cover its payroll and other expenses.

On Monday, Wills asked the court to stay the civil suit until after the sentencing in his criminal federal case. The court has not yet ruled on that request.

Indianapolis attorney B.J. Brinkerhoff, who is representing Indiana Flooring in the civil suit, said his client hasn’t yet decided whether it wants to proceed with its case.

“I think our plan is to see what happens with the plea agreement and the sentencing, and kind of make a decision from there,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of Indiana Flooring, Brinkerhoff said his client does not wish to comment on the case at this point.