California man headed to federal prison after supplying IRS with unqualified guards
Fresno CA April 1 2019
A Visalia man who supplied a federal agency with unqualified security guards may be heading to prison for multi-million-dollar scheme.
Scott Carlton, 49, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government and making a false statement, according to U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott.
Carlton faces 10 years in prison and will pay $2 million in restitution fees. Because the judgement is part of a criminal case, he’s not eligible to file bankruptcy.
Fresno’s IRS campus is a national center for processing federal tax returns.
Carlton was an employee of E&A Protective Services, which had a government contract to supply 24-hour armed security guards in Fresno, according to court documents.
While supplying guards, Carlton came across an issue — guards weren’t meeting the shooting score required under the contract.
It didn’t take Carlton long to come up with a solution. He falsified scores and supplied unqualified guards to the IRS, prosecutors said.
From 2011 to 2013, E&A was paid more than $9.6 million from the IRS, despite 41 of the 197 scores submitted being falsified. In total, E&A was paid more than $2 million on fraudulent invoices submitted to the IRS for security guards who were not qualified to work as a guard.
“At all times, in carrying out this conspiracy, the defendants acted with the intent to defraud the IRS,” according to complaint filed by United States Attorney Mark Cullers in 2015.
Two other Valley men were also implicated in the crime and pleaded guilty earlier in the court process.
Matthew Cocola, 47 of Clovis, pleaded guilty on Sept. 12, 2016. He was convicted of making a false statement and was sentenced to probation. Robert Bejarano, 49 of Kingsburg, pleaded guilty on Sept. 17, 2018, to conspiracy and making a false statement.
Bejarano is scheduled to be sentenced on May 6
Carlton was originally scheduled for sentencing on March 25 but his lawyer filed a motion to reschedule. Roger Wilson asked the court to push the sentencing to May 20 because his client was seriously ill and needed knee surgery.
The request was approved.
