Zachary Man Convicted of Mail Fraud Arising from Multi-Year Scheme to Defraud Business in Louisiana

Topics:  Commercial Tire of Louisiana

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Louisiana
September 6, 2012

BATON ROUGE—United States Attorney Donald J. Cazayoux, Jr. announced that Richard Glenn Boyette, age 48, of Zachary, Louisiana, pled guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge James J. Brady to one count of mail fraud and forfeiture. Boyette faces up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release following imprisonment, a fine of up to $250,000, and forfeiture of all proceeds from the offense. The sentencing date has yet to be scheduled.

At the hearing, Boyette admitted that he worked for Commercial Tire of Louisiana Inc. (the “company”) from 2001 until November 2010. For most of that time, Boyette served as the company’s controller. The company is located in Baker, Louisiana, and has offices in Scott and Hammond. In connection with his conviction, Boyette admitted that from at least in or about January 2002 through in or about November 2010, he defrauded the company and its employees through a series of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises. To execute the scheme, among other acts, the defendant (a) created and approved fraudulent payroll checks to himself, which he was not authorized to receive; (b) obtained fraudulent payroll checks and gained control over the funds; (c) created false entries in the company’s accounting records that falsely reflected that the fraudulent payroll checks had actually been issued to other employees; and (d) prepared and distributed fraudulent W-2s that concealed the stolen funds. The defendant admitted that the loss caused by his scheme exceeded $400,000. The parties will address whether the loss was more than $1,000,000 at the defendant’s sentencing.

U.S. Attorney Cazayoux stated, “This is another example of our commitment to seeking out and prosecuting white collar criminals wherever they are found. This defendant spent eight years defrauding his employer, causing a substantial loss, and using his position of trust within the company to conceal his fraudulent scheme. We appreciate the dedicated efforts of the FBI on this investigation and the assistance we have received from the victim.”

According to FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Anderson, “This case should demonstrate our serious commitment to address egregious fraud that harms Louisiana businesses and its employees in this time of already great challenges to the U.S. economy.”

This investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Alan A. Stevens.