Dr. Joel Caldwell Fraudulently billed his family's move from New York to Florida to our business, and made unauthorized credit card purchases Clermont Florida
Dr. Joel Caldwell began working at GFC Counseling of Groveland, Florida in February 2015. On July 5th of that year, Dr. Caldwell became the new Administrator / CEO, as our founder and former Director, Dr. Joseph Nussbaumer, Jr., had developed leukemia a few years prior. On July 22, 2015, Dr. Caldwell instructed the Office Manager to type up a letter on GFC's letterhead to Clinton Moving & Packaging, Inc., of Clinton, NY. Dr. Caldwell personally dictated the letter. When the Office Manager voiced his concern to Dr. Caldwell that the letter gave the impression that GFC Counseling would be paying for the entire cost of his family's move, Dr. Caldwell stated "I know that the letter makes it sound that way, but the moving company just wants to verify that this is a legitimate move and that I am gainfully employed here."
Dr. Nussbaumer did authorize the Office Manager to write a check to Dr. Caldwell for $2,000.00, as a gift to put towards the cost of his family's moving expense. Our records indicate that Dr. Caldwell cashed that check the following week. When the Office Manager received our credit card statements the following month, he noticed that there were many unauthorized charges made to grocery stores, pizza parlors, WalMart, and other places. Knowing that these purchases were not made for the office, the Office Manager immediately notified Dr. Nussbaumer of the fraudulent activity. The following day, GFC Counseling received a bill in the mail for $12,336.04, the entire cost of the Caldwell family's household move.
When confronted about the nearly $20,000.00 in outstanding bills (his personal purchases using GFC Counseling's business credit card, and his family's move billed to GFC Counseling), Dr. Caldwell stated that "he had everything under control", even though he decided to quit later on that same day. The amount of unauthorized spending at GFC Counseling that Dr. Caldwell is responsible for totals $7,209.50. To date, Dr. Caldwell has not reimbursed GFC Counseling for any of these charges.
The sad irony of this whole ordeal is that, just a few weeks after his sudden departure, GFC Counseling received an advertising email from Motivational Press, announcing the upcoming release of a new Christian book. The name of the book? "Living Larger: Discovering the True Riches of Life" by Dr. Joel Caldwell. If only he really understood what the true riches of life really are, and the value that the Lord places on Christian character, Joel Caldwell wouldn't feel compelled to "live larger" while manipulating and exploiting others for his own personal gain.