Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Alan Neal Mates, age 51, of Weston, Florida, today to a year and a day in prison followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit money laundering, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

According to his guilty plea and testimony at court proceedings, beginning in at least 1999, Mates agreed to act as an intermediary between Christopher Denison, who lived in Maryland and wanted to illegally purchase oxydodone and valium, among other controlled substances, and a person who lived in Florida who would provide the drugs. Specifically, Mates agreed to accept the drugs that the supplier would mail to him and send them to Denison. Denison would mail the cash to pay for the drugs to Mates, who would take a portion of the money and forward the rest to the supplier. Mates acted in this capacity for approximately six years.

Initially, Denison sent personal funds to pay for the drugs, but as he ran out of money, he devised a scheme to divert funds from his employer’s retirement accounts to pay for the drugs. Denison was manager of the retirement plans for the company. Denison identified members of the retirement plan whose plan statements were returned as undeliverable and changed their dates of service to ensure they would appear to be vested in the plan and entitled to distribution of retirement income. Denison changed the members’ name and mailing address in the company’s computer system to names and addresses provided by Mates. Denison then sent Mates, or individuals identified by Mates, including his mother and an employee, a retirement check which were the assets from the member’s account. Mates endorsed or had the check endorsed to him and deposited in his personal account. Mates used some of the money himself and sent the rest to the Florida drug supplier. Mates laundered more than $200,000 over the course of the conspiracy.

Denison, age 40, now living in Cary, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to theft from an employee benefit plan and was sentenced to four months in jail, followed by six months of home detention.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration and Office of Inspector General for their investigative work and commended Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan Su, who prosecuted the case.