HARRISBURG, Pa. – A former Utz Quality Foods, Inc. executive pleaded guilty today in federal court in Harrisburg to charges that he defrauded Utz out of approximately $1.4 million. Kevin Myers, 38, formerly of Abbottstown and the former Director of Purchasing for Utz, pleaded guilty to a one count Information charging him with Wire Fraud.
Myers and Jonathan Haas, 45 of Easton the former owner of Haas Packaging and Design, Inc. in Bethlehem, were charged in June of this year with wire fraud. The Information was filed against Myers and Haas pursuant to plea agreements with the government.
According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, Haas Packaging & Design was a vendor that supplied Utz with shelving and packaging products between January 2007 and August 2014. The defendants allegedly defrauded Utz by Haas’ submission of approximately 83 false invoices and approximately 43 bogus purchase orders prepared by Myers for products Utz never actually received.
After Myers approved Haas’ false invoices for payment, Haas allegedly would kickback a portion of the proceeds to Myers. Haas allegedly received approximately $1,474,765 from Utz as a result of the false invoices and kicked back approximately $651,000 of that amount to Myers.
The defendants also allegedly attempted to conceal kickbacks to Myers as payments for consulting services. Some of the kickbacks were in the form of checks payable to “Myers Packaging Consulting,” a fictional business entity created by Myers.
The specific wire fraud charge relates to an alleged interstate wire transmission of a $26,000 check into a Myers Packaging Consulting bank account in January 2014. The government is also seeking forfeiture of approximately $1.4 million as proceeds of the scheme.
The case was investigated by the Harrisburg Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Utz Quality Foods, Inc. cooperated with the investigation.
Myers faces a maximum penalty under federal law of 20 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a $250,000 fine.
