‘A carefully orchestrated pattern of theft’: Valparaiso man handed 2-year prison sentence for $500K embezzlement scheme

VALPARAISO, Ind. — A Porter County man will spend more than two years in federal prison for embezzling over $500,000 from a staffing firm and spending the money on home repairs and luxury jewelry.

Charles Nelson, a 67-year-old Valparaiso, Indiana, resident who pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud last year, has been sentenced to 27 months in prison, Andrew Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, announced Wednesday.

According to prosecutors, the scheme unfolded between 2018 and 2019 while Nelson was acting as CFO of a staffing firm’s Chicago office.

Prosecutors said during that period, Nelson made several unauthorized credit card purchases for his own benefit. Initially, the purchases were for meals and travel, but he eventually went on to purchase extravagant items, including Cartier and Rolex watches, a gold and diamond bracelet, high-end appliances and even renovations to his home.

Nelson was able to hide the purchases by circumventing multiple corporate controls over expenditures.

“Defendant squandered the company’s money on extravagant items, such as gold, coins, jewelry, trips, and meals,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Kelly argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum.  “His offense was not an isolated lapse in judgment or simple mistake.  It was a carefully orchestrated pattern of theft from a company that trusted defendant to serve as CFO, and his offense took a financial and emotional toll on the honest, hard-working employees left in its wake.”

Nelson’s sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey on Monday, Aug. 4.

In addition to the sentence, Nelson was also ordered to pay $510,319 in restitution.

Prosecutors did not provide a booking photo for Nelson.