NEWS BRIEF: Utah Man Found Guilty in an 18-Year Mail Fraud Scam Totaling over $5.8 Million in Stolen Monies

After a jury found him guilty following a nine-day trial of an 18-year mail fraud scam totaling over $5.8 million, Kevin Scott Horton of Saratoga Springs, Utah is facing up to 140 years in prison for his crimes.

According to the news release distributed by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California, "... Horton schemed with Tony Anhtuan Rawlings ..." to defraud Melissa’s World Variety Produce of Vernon, California "... through the approval of payment of invoices for IT services that were never provided."

As it turns out, Rawlings was the Information Technology Director at Melissa's, and after Horton created "... a shell company called Creative Network Solutions ..." he submitted to Rawlings "... two fictitious invoices per month ... for approximately 18 years, through February 2018" for services CNS did not provide to Melissa's.

Naturally, Rawlings approved the invoices, with Melissa's mailing payments to CNS, and Horton (in turn) forwarded checks to Rawlings for his portion of the illegal activities; hence, the mail fraud charges.

In total, CNS, Horton, and Rawlings stole approximately $5,852,604 from Melissa's over the 18-year-span.

As noted in the U.S. Attorney's news release, Horton has a sentencing hearing on August 5 where "... (he) will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each mail fraud count (aka, a possible total of 140 years)."

For his part, "Rawlings pleaded guilty in August 2022 to one count of mail fraud. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 20."

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