The Infamous Appalachian Trail

Posted July 19th, 2016 by LuAnn Bean & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Ethical Dilemma, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

James T. Hammes, controller for a family-owned bottling company in Cincinnati, disappeared from his home in Lexington, Kentucky, in February 2009, after he was questioned about accounting irregularities that indicated an $8.7 million embezzlement had taken place.

Questions:
1. Over what period had the embezzlement taken place?
2. Although Hammes denied involvement, what was the scheme he used to steal the money?
3. Where were the breakdowns in internal controls that allowed this to happen?
4. Hammes evaded the law until May 2015. Where was he all this time?
5. How was Hammes caught?
6. What was his eventual sentence?

Source:
Staff for FBI News Stories. (2016). The Long Hike to Prison – Fugitive Spent Years Hiding on the Appalachian Trail, July 19. (Retrievable online at https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/fugitive-spent-years-hiding-on-appalachian-trail)

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