Kevin Gettings plead guilty to nine counts of theft on Monday in Warren County Circuit Court in relation to the embezzlement scheme he ran while living in Russellville.
As part of a plea agreement, Gettings will admit guilt on nine counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of property valued over $300. Each count carries a four-year sentence, but the total sentence will be only eight years as most of the sentences will run concurrently.
However, Gettings will only have to serve 180 days in jail as Warren County Commonwealth Attorney Chris Cohron will recommend probation after six months, according to the deal he worked out with Gettings.
Gettings will serve his sentence in the Muhlenberg County jail. He currently lives and operates a print business in Muhlenberg County, Cohron said. The aggreement also allows for Gettings to work at his business for up to 55 hours per week for work release.
“That way his business can hopefully stay viable and he can work toward making restitution,” Cohron said.
Also as part of the plea deal, Gettings will serve at least a five years on probation. He is also required to pay $234,889.62 in restitution. If at the end of his five-year probation, the restitution is not paid, Getting will remain on probation until such time as his full debt is paid off.
Gettings’ final sentencing is set for July 23 in Warren County. At that time, it will be up to Judge Steve Wilson to either accept the plea deal that both parties agreed to.
Gettings was arrested in January after an investigation found that he had embezzled over $220,000 from his employer, Gerald Printing in Bowling Green.
According to Gettings’s arrest warrant, he began stealing from his employer in 2004. At the time, Gettings was working as a sales representative for Gerald Printing and negotiated an agreement with Houchens Food Group to print their store signs.
Then in October of 2004, invoices began being paid by Houchens Food Group to “Printers Ink” for materials and services actually provided by Gerald Printing.
According to the warrant, the additional invoices being paid to Printers Ink was based on information provided by Gettings to Houchens. Getting told Houchens that Gerald Printing could not perform all the work they had agreed on and a second company, Printers Ink, would be used to complete the project each month.
From that point, Houchens paid both Gerald Printing and Printers Ink each month until June 21, 2011.
The total amount paid to Printers Ink by Houchens was $222,011.84, according to the arrest warrant.
The warrant also states that upon investigation, Printers Ink does not exist except for a Russellville post office box and a bank account set up by Gettings. All actual physical work for Houchens was being done by Gerald Printing and the funds were being diverted to Printers Ink at the direction of Gettings.
Cohron said that several other businesses were also duped by Gettings, but that Gerald Printing is the only victim named in the court documents because the money paid to Gettings rightfully belonged to Gerald Printing.
The final amount of $234,889.62 was reached after the investigation concluded and law enforcement found out that other businesses had paid money to Printers Ink.
The charges Gettings has plead guilty to are all Class D felonies. If he had went to trial, he could have faced up to 20 years in prison.
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