Systems Engineer Sentenced to Prison for Embezzling from Houma Company

NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that SCOTT P. RICHARD (“RICHARD”), age 48, of Raceland, La. was sentenced on May 23, 2024 to a year and a day in prison by U.S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon.  RICHARD had previously pleaded guilty to  access device fraud in relation to his theft from his former employer, a Houma-based company identified in court records as “Company A.”  

According to those records, RICHARD was a systems engineer for Company A, entrusted with the specification, purchase, installation, and support of equipment and systems used by the company’s technology infrastructure.  RICHARD admitted to fraudulently using the corporate credit card issued to him by Company A for his own personal benefit.  RICHARD embezzled money from his employer by creating false invoices for a shell company he controlled and using his corporate card to make fraudulent purchases from the shell company.  RICHARD also made unauthorized purchases of equipment, for his own personal use, with his corporate card.  From January 1, 2012 through September 27, 2021, RICHARD fraudulently diverted $526,569.42 from Company A to himself.

In addition to his incarceration sentence, RICHARD was ordered to pay restitution of $526,569.42 to Company A.  Judge Fallon also sentenced RICHARD to three years of supervised release as well as payment of  a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.