Two Philadelphia Men Sentenced For Scamming Maryland Company Out Of $2.4 Million
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Two Philadelphia men have been sentenced to two years in prison for conspiring to scam a Maryland company out of $2.4 million.
Chief U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced 65-year-old Mean Peach to two years and 56-year-old Eam Peng Chou to a year-and-a-day in federal prison, respectively, on Wednesday. Both Peach and Chou will each serve three years of supervised release after their prison terms are up, authorities said.
Bredar also ordered both men to pay restitution of about $1.6 million.
Prosecutors said Peach and Chou, along with co-defendants Chonnathason Has and Thi Ho, worked with Kevin Miller, the director of planning, logistics and control at Company A in Linthicum, Maryland who was in the business of manufacturing personal care products.
According to prosecutors, Miller's job detailed determining the timing and volume requirements for materials using in the manufacturing process at the company. He also had the authority to approve payments to independent contractors, prosecutors said.
The five co-conspirators admitted in plea agreements to defrauding Company A beginning in September 2015 until March 2019, prosecutors said. The five defrauded the company of at least $2.4 million.
The co-conspirators set up shell companies for waste disposal and other work that was never completed, prosecutors said, and Miller signed off on the fraudulent invoices and submitted them to Company A's accounting department. The scammers then cashed the checks in Philadelphia.
Ho, of Bear, Delaware, received a 46-month prison sentence and was ordered to pay about $2.5 million in restitution.
Has, of Philadelphia, will be sentenced next week.
Miller, of Bel Air, Maryland, will be sentenced in October.
