COVINGTON, La. — Robert Wilson Sr. first came from Georgia to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, opening a new branch of his air conditioning company on the Northshore to help people rebuild after the storm.
The shop was a massive success.
While his initial move was all about business, Wilson, 72, quickly grew attached to the boating and fishing lifestyle of St. Tammany Parish. The area also grew on his wife of 49 years, so they bought a house in Abita Springs and put down new roots.
“Right after Katrina. My wife and I fell in love with the house,” Wilson said.
But all of that came crashing down in 2020 when he says he became the victim of a brazen large-scale embezzlement, an inside job. Authorities agreed, arresting and charging his former bookkeeper, Megan Bagley Rivolo.
This was no ordinary inside job. As Wilson explains it, and as detailed in a police report and a pending civil lawsuit against Rivolo and her husband, this was a massive fraud that went unchecked for three years, ultimately bringing his company – Wilserv Corporation – to its knees.
At its peak, Wilserv occupied a 10,000-square-foot warehouse with a parking lot jammed with dozens of work trucks for its 60 employees.
Today, what’s left of the company in St. Tammany is down to five employees, housed in a single self-serve storage unit measuring 120 square feet.
“Unfortunately, this is about all we can afford now,” Wilson said.
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Rivolo, Wilson's former trusted bookkeeper, was booked in December 2020 with theft over $25,000. Wilson and his civil attorney Ryan Higgins say that amount is only a fraction of Rivolo’s bold heist.
A civil lawsuit filed against Rivolo and her husband Dominick claims that what began as unauthorized spending at local gas stations and convenience stores quickly escalated to clothes, meals, car repairs, sporting events and eventually, elaborate vacations.
In his suit, Wilson details trips to Las Vegas and Paris, complete with hotels and transportation. He says he uncovered family trips to Sea World in San Antonio and Six Flags in Georgia, even a Taylor Swift concert.
“Paris. We've seen charges in Las Vegas,” said Wilson’s attorney Ryan Higgins. “We have sitters and limousines and hotel rooms. Stuff that would be very difficult to explain.”
The lawsuit claims Rivolo stole more than $500,000 in company funds. Wilson says he found even more missing money as he kept looking, finding secret credit cards and bank accounts that she used to pay herself double and transfer even more money to her husband.
“I found over $800,000 after this was filed. And I stopped looking because I was just sick,” Wilson said.
Wilson says he first grew suspicious when the company was somehow bleeding money, despite doing booming business.
“I was repeatedly putting in $100,000 funds to keep the company going,” Wilson said.
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Wilson said he first approached Rivolo to try to understand why money was evaporating. In his lawsuit, he recounts that she tried to blame other employees, pointing out minor unauthorized purchases such as candy bars.
“Ms. Bagley-Rivolo would flag purchases she made for herself as ‘suspicious activity’ and inform Mr. Wilson that such ‘suspicious’ charges were made by other employees,” the lawsuit claims. “Ms. Bagley-Rivolo would bring to Mr.
Wilson’s attention to small purchases on company credit cards by other employees that were not authorized such as purchases of candy bars at convenience stores.”
“She knew how to gain your trust and tell you things that would make you feel comfortable with her,” Wilson said. “But at the same time, the company is dying and I couldn't figure it out.”
Then Wilson stumbled on a $700 invoice for the purchase of four tires at a shop he never used before.
“This was the smoking gun,” Wilson said. “She had her tires put on her personal vehicle and we caught it. And this is where the landslide started. It went from this to hundreds of other charges that were fraudulent.”
Higgins said his client unraveled most of the alleged theft through a painstaking review of a tangle of credit card statements, bank accounts and the company’s internal books.
“He basically presented the detectives that were handling the case with all this evidence he had obtained,” he said. “They brought the criminal charges.”
But the status of Rivolo’s theft charge has Wilson feeling like he’s being victimized twice, first by his former bookkeeper and now by the criminal justice system.
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Rivolo’s trial has been stalled for nearly four years and Wilson's civil lawsuit is stuck on square one until the criminal case is resolved.
“We have been able to document from review of the court record and our investigation that there's been 18 continuances of the criminal trial to date,” Higgins said.
Records show that the case was initially set for trial in January 2021. The case now has a new date coming up on October 28th, but Wilson and his attorney Ryan Higgins aren't holding their breath.
Some of the previous 17 postponements have been due to requests from defense attorneys, scheduling conflicts, COVID and most recently in April and June because Rivolo switched attorneys.
“My frustration and the reason I'm here is to figure out a way to have this brought to court and see justice,” Wilson said. “If it's ever going to be brought to justice.”
Wilson has since sold his Abita Springs house and moved back to Georgia. He says he still loves Louisiana and visits periodically to keep up with what's left of his business. And, of course, every time the court sets a new trial date.
“It is heartbreaking to see it and come back where we went to and where we are now,” Wilson said.
But Wilson says he will keep coming back to write a final chapter to his cautionary tale.
“Thank God for WWL and this opportunity to tell my story after 19 times this thing being pushed off with St. Tammany.”
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