James Hammes Case Summary

I found the story of James Hammes who had embezzled 8.7 million dollars from his employer intriguing. According to author William Browning (2015), Hammes married his college sweetheart, and started his accounting career at a Coca-Cola distributing company in Illinois. In 1986 they had a daughter, and relocated to Ohio. However, it was uncovered that he had a second daughter in 1989 with his former high school girlfriend. It was reported that he kept that relationship and daughter a secret in which no one knew about it until after his arrest. He was described as being a religious man, but according to Jane Ryan his sister in law, he had a “one up” meaning that his appearance of material success was important to him. As reported, Hammes then took a position in Lexington KY as Controller for the G&J Pepsi-Cola bottler Company. Where he has in charge of accounting and the company’s internal controls. According to court documents he set up a bogus vendor account that only he had sole access to. Although, it was reported that his life style was not extravagant he did take expensive extended diving trips to the

Where he asked for legal representation that allowed him to leave, in turn, he disappeared until 2014. After a CNBC series “American Greed” episode aired that featured his story, an Appalachian hiker recognized Hammes and reported his whereabouts, leading to his capture. According to an Associated Press article (2016), “Hammes pleaded guilty in October to a wire fraud count and agreed to pay back money embezzled in the $8.7 million case. Federal authorities agreed to drop 74 other charges against the former Lexington employee of a Cincinnati-based Pepsi-Cola bottler.” It also, stated that his sentencing was again postponed until June 22, 2016 (Associated Press,