Former Mohawk Employee Sentenced in Fraud Case

Calhoun, GA, June 6, 2007--The second of two former Mohawk Industries employees who were indicted for defrauding the company of several hundred thousand dollars pleaded guilty Thursday in Gordon Superior Court, according to the Calhoun Times.

The newspaper said that Terry R. Wheeler was sentenced to 10 years, to serve nine to 12 months at a diversion center and the rest on probation, and ordered to pay $88,267.54 restitution after entering his guilty plea before Judge Carey Nelson.

Wheeler paid $40,000 of the restitution immediately as part of the plea agreement and will repay the remainder as one of the terms of his probation.

He will remain free until space opens at a diversion center, Nelson said.

Wheeler and Ralph Eugene Magnicheri were indicted in 2003 on two counts of RICO (racketeering) and 11 counts of theft by taking. Magnicheri pleaded guilty in April 2007 and was sentenced to 10 years in confinement and to pay $147,942 in restitution.

According to District Attorney Joe Campbell: Magnicheri and Wheeler received payments from a now-defunct supply company via business checks ranging in amounts from $300 to several thousand dollars each. At almost the same time, the company would submit bogus or partially bogus invoices to Mohawk in the amounts of approximately equal to or in excess of the amounts of the checks issued.

Magnicheri or Wheeler would then personally approve the invoices and present each for payment by Mohawk.

The kickbacks began in the fall of 1997 and continued through mid-2000, when an Mohawk auditor discovered the discrepancies and reported them to his superiors.

Calhoun Police spent cl