CLARKSVILLE —
Gary Crowe Sr., owner of Jubilee Oil Co., was sentenced to 18 months in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to defrauding the town of Clarksville of more than $446,000.
The charges arose from Crowe’s fraudulent sale of gasoline and diesel fuel from Jubilee Oil to the town. The fraud was initially discovered through detailed audits by the Indiana State Board of Accounts.
The discovery prompted the Indiana State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to join the case. Crowe, 71, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in New Albany by Chief Judge Richard L. Young.
According to the state board of accounts audit report relating to the case, Crowe overcharged the town for fuel by altering price-per-gallon information on invoices from his suppliers. To accomplish the scheme, Crowe personally prepared 350 false and fraudulent invoices over a six year period, according to a press release from the court. The company also billed the town for 156,232 gallons of fuel that was never delivered, the report said. It would submit a handwritten delivery ticket showing the total gallons delivered, but not the tank meter readings to back up its numbers.
A town employee would sign for it but — because the tickets were not signed at the time of delivery — the employee had no way of verifying the number of gallons, the report said.
Clarksville had a contract with Jubilee from 2000 and 2007 but has gotten a new fuel provider since.
“I’m glad that’s behind us,” said Clarksville Town Council President Greg Isgrigg.
He said authorities have seized about $450,000 from an account Crowe had at financial firm Morgan Stanley. That money is being utilized to make restitution.
“Right now, we could use the money. It’s sad that it happened but we’ve changed the way we’re doing business,” Isgrigg said, noting that meters are now check during fuel deliveries.
That’s not all Crowe is paying.
U.S. Attorney Steven D. DeBrota, who prosecuted the case for the government, said Crowe was also ordered to pay $33,679 to the State Board of Accounts for its audit costs to uncover and investigate the fraud and forfeit an additional $446,643.07 to the United States and pay a fine of $5,000 to the court.
The press release called Crowe’s contract favorable to him because he did not actually have to deliver the fuel, but merely acted as a middle man. Jubilee Oil actually purchased the fuel it supplied to Clarksville from Supreme Oil Company Inc., in New Albany.
Crowe would telephone Supreme Oil and place an order for a fuel delivery. Crowe would provide the date of delivery, the place of delivery, the type of fuel and the amount of fuel required. Supreme Oil would then dispatch a tanker truck containing the fuel to various locations, including the police department, the street department, the parks department and the Wooded View Golf Course.
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