Former Controller Sentenced For Embezzlement Scheme

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – On July 17, 2020, Shain A. Chappell, 49, formerly of Johnson City, was sentenced by the Honorable Clifton L. Corker, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Greeneville.

As part of the plea agreement, Chappell pleaded guilty to an information in December 2019. The information charged Chappell with one count of wire fraud and one count of making a false tax return in the United States.  Chappell was sentenced to 40 months in prison, followed by three years’ supervised release.  Chappell will be required to make restitution of over $1 million to the victim and over $350,000 to the United States.

In October 2015, Greentech Environmental, LLC hired Chappell as its controller.  During his time at Greentech, Chappell developed a scheme that used his position as controller to deceive Greentech into paying for Chappell’s personal credit card purchases, subsequently hiding the thefts by showing the payments as purchases of inventory in Greentech’s books and records.  By July 2017, less than two years after his hiring, Chappell had embezzled over $1 million from his former employer, using the embezzled funds to pay for lavish lifestyle expenditures.

In addition to stealing from Greentech, Chappell filed false tax returns for 2017 and 2018 that failed to include as income the money he stole from his employer, resulting in additional income tax owed of over $350,000.

The criminal indictment was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and IRS Criminal Investigations.  This investigation was co-led by FBI Special Agent Reanna E. O’Hare and IRS CI Special Agent Jimmy Cline.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mac D. Heavener, III represented the United States.

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