A Bowling Green man who acknowledged in court to embezzling more than $1 million from his former employer will be sentenced Wednesday for various financial crimes.

Kennith Ray Moore, 55, pleaded guilty in January in U.S. District Court to three counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering and four counts of tax evasion.

An investigation uncovered evidence that Moore embezzled a total of $1,145,800 from his employer, HeathCo, which has since been acquired by Globe Electric, between 2009 and his firing in 2020.

According to federal court records, Moore carried out the scheme by directing payments to KBM Solutions, a shell company he created in 2009 to “act as a conduit for embezzled funds.”

Moore held out to his employer that KBM Solutions was a vendor doing business with HeathCo, records show.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Raymond McGee filed a sentencing memorandum last month asking that Moore serve 46 months in prison, arguing that imprisonment was necessary because of the seriousness of Moore’s offenses and his “blatant disregard” for the law.

“Moore began stealing from his employer within his first year of employment. He stole well over $1 million,” McGee said in his filing. “Even though Moore held a good job, he was a blatant tax cheat and failed to pay over $130,000 in federal income taxes. He never even bothered to file personal tax returns.”

McGee’s memorandum said that Moore was fired prior to the discovery of the embezzlement scheme, when HeathCo found that he had falsified company financial information, resulting in false financial reporting, the defrauding of lenders and the company overdrawing its line of credit by $7 million.

When HeathCo later learned of the embezzlement scheme, it filed an insurance claim and recovered $700,000 through its insurer.

The theft was reported to the IRS, and the subsequent investigation also uncovered thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes from Moore between 2013-20 and no records of any filed taxes during his employment with HeathCo.

Moore reportedly lied during an interview with investigators, according to McGee’s filing.

“He falsely claimed that KBM Solutions was an HR company out of Michigan that did business with HeathCo,” McGee said in the filing. “He said he did not own or work for KBM Solutions during this brief interview. In fact, KBM Solutions served no purpose except to allow Moore to steal money.”

In addition to incarceration, prosecutors will seek $445,800 from Moore to be paid to HeathCo, along with $12,394.80 in legal fees to the company and $700,000 to the insurance company that reimbursed HeathCo when it reported its losses.

Moore will also be made to pay $342,155.84 in restitution to the U.S. Treasury for unpaid taxes, penalties and interest.