A former CEO of a power company based in Avon, IN will serve federal prison time for passing off nearly $600,000 in personal expenses as business purchases.
Donnis Mizelle, 56, was sentenced Friday to 33 months’ imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to one felony count of wire fraud. For 6 years, Mizelle fudged his expense reports to cover personal purchases, some of which he felt entitled to due to his position with the company, according to court documents.
Mizelle was the CEO of Hendricks Power Cooperative, which brings electricity to more than 30,000 residents in rural Hendricks County. He had been CEO since 2003, and his salary was about $300,000, according to court documents.
Because the company is a cooperative, it is effectively owned by the residents it serves. With his falsified expense reports, Mizelle was stealing from the pockets of his customers.
“We place a tremendous amount of trust and responsibility in our business leaders, particularly our CEOs,” United States attorney Josh Minkler said in a press release. “Exploiting that trust for purely personal gain causes more than financial harm. It devastates employee morale, shakes the confidence of customers, and contributes to a belief that the system is rigged in favor of those at the top.”
The purchases Mizelle charged to the company ranged from everyday items — pizzas for his family, Mother’s Day brunch, groceries, wine and clothing — to the more lavish — jewelry, vacations to Universal Studios in Florida, trips to Europe, iPhones and iPads.
Court documents detail the ways Mizelle tried to write off his purchases. On April 30, 2009, Mizelle turned in an expense report for $654.10 for “business expenses for entertainment” at an Indianapolis Indians game. Investigators later discovered the expense went to a black sapphire bracelet and a Montblanc pen from a local jewelry store.
Other expenses include $1,772.40 on January 31, 2013, that Mizelle said went to flights for him and directors of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. The money was actually spent on plane tickets for him, his son and wife for a Florida vacation. The same report included expenses that went toward a room at a Universal Studios hotel.
“Donnis Mizelle was a foolish and shortsighted employee of (Hendricks Power Cooperative) who let himself believe he was entitled to more than his fair share and his legitimate salary,” Mizelle’s attorney, John Tompkins , wrote in a sentencing memo. “He was misguided by his own skewed perception of his contribution to the high level of performance of the organization he was leading.”
Although Mizelle acknowledges some of his purchases were unacceptable, in many claims he thought his actions were justified because he “piggybacked family expenses” onto legitimate travel that benefitted the company, even though he overstated his expenses.
Beyond his financial indiscretions, Mizelle had no criminal history. Court documents from his attorney describe him as a good man — a dedicated husband and father and frequent community volunteer who worked with organizations such as Boy Scouts of America, the YMCA and the Avon Education Foundation.
His contributions to the community do not outweigh his crimes in the eyes of prosecutors.
“Despite his appearance of success and prominence in his community ... he was stealing from his neighbors,” prosecutors wrote in court documents.
As part of his plea agreement, Mizelle will have to pay full restitution for the expenses he defrauded from the company. He had already paid back $300,000 before his sentencing. He will also serve one year of supervised release after his prison sentence.
