A federal court judge on Tuesday sentenced former Fort Smith construction company owner Brandon Woodrome to 41 months in prison and three years of supervise released for bank and wire fraud.
Woodrome, 29, admitted to receiving more than $2.1 million from First Western Bank of Booneville and Rioux Capital of Austin, Texas, by submitting fraudulent invoices. In September, he waived indictment and pleaded guilty to one count each of bank and wire fraud.
For each charge, U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III sentenced Woodrome to 41 months, sentences that will run concurrently. The court did not impose a fine, but Woodrome must pay $2.3 million in restitution.
Woodrome had asked the court for a light sentence. In a filing last month, his attorney pointed out that Woodrome didn't prey on the elderly or needy people.
"There is no 'hole' where the money went: no gambling habit, no drugs, no fancy cars," according to the filing by Fort Smith attorney Matthew T. Horan. "Brandon got in over his head, panicked and made disastrous choices."
In 2013, Woodrome’s construction business, Behr LLC, had $10.3 million in revenue. In 2014, revenue plummeted to $6.6 million.
Horan said one of the key tipping points occurred in 2014 when the IRS said Woodrome owed $250,000. If it wasn’t paid in 30 days, the revenuers said they would slap a lien on his assets and accounts, effectively putting him out of business.
"Brandon made the fateful criminal decision to pay the IRS, indirectly using the line of credit he had legitimately opened with First Western Bank," Horan said.
Woodrome was never able to repay the money. In October, he described the fraud to Arkansas Business.
"What happened was our growth outpaced our actual sales," Woodrome said in an interview. "And instead of responding to a decline in sales by controlling overhead expenses, I just tried to push through and underbid projects. It compounded the problems."