Former Manager of Mattoon Restaurant Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Embezzling from Former Employer

URBANA, Ill. – The former manager of the Stadium Grill restaurant in Mattoon, Ill.,  James Michael Hill, 40, was sentenced yesterday in Urbana to serve two years in federal prison for embezzling from the restaurant. Hill, of the 2700 block of Krishire Dr., Charleston, Ill., was ordered to report and surrender to the federal Bureau of Prisons on Nov. 7, 2017. Hill was also ordered to pay $168,723 in restitution to the restaurant. As part of his sentence, following his release from prison, Hill was ordered to remain on federal supervised release for three years.

On April 28, 2017, Hill, who has a prior theft conviction in 2001 for stealing from a different employer, entered pleas of guilty to four separate counts of wire fraud. According to evidence presented during the court hearing, as general manager of the restaurant, Hill could access the restaurant’s accounting system to correct errors made by other employees in entering purchases. From 2007, until his fraud was discovered and he was fired in August 2013, Hill made false representations in the restaurant’s accounting system that certain cash sales had not occurred or occurred for a lesser amount, and then took and used the cash generated for his personal use. Further, Hill falsely represented that certain sales were incorrectly entered into the accounting system as purchases made with cash and fraudulently entered them as purchases made with gift cards. Hill then took and used the cash generated by those sales for his personal use and benefit.

The case was prosecuted by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene L. Miller. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Mattoon Police Department investigated the case.