Oil Co. HR Manager James Rhea Cooley Sentenced for $700K Embezzlement

United States Attorney Danny C. Williams Sr. announced that James Rhea Cooley, a former Regional Human Resources Manager for Newfield Exploration Mid-Continent Inc., has been sentenced to 55 months in Federal prison.

The sentence comes after Cooley admitted to embezzling $696,000 from the oil and gas company through wire fraud and tax fraud. He was also found guilty of failing to report the stolen income, resulting in unpaid taxes totaling $226,089.

Cooley was ordered to pay over $1.2 million in restitution to various entities, including Newfield’s insurance company, Federal Insurance; Newfield itself; ConAgra Foods; and the IRS. His scheme involved creating a fictitious consulting company and using it to defraud Newfield.

After being terminated for his initial crime at Newfield, Cooley was employed by ConAgra Corporation in Council Bluff, Iowa, where he committed similar fraud, totaling approximately $70,000. This second offense took place after Cooley had confessed to the Newfield fraud and was supposedly cooperating with federal investigators.

The investigation was a joint effort between the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with Assistant United States Attorneys Charles M. McLoughlin and Catherine Depew handling the prosecution.

Cooley’s criminal forfeiture money judgment is set at $693,300 to provide restitution for his victims.