From February 2000 to April 2018, Horton conspired with Tony Anhtuan Rawlings, 56, of Garden Grove, the management information systems director at Melissa’s World Variety Produce Inc., a Vernon-based company, to defraud Melissa’s out of its money through the approval of payment of invoices for fictitious services.

In February 2000, Horton allegedly created a shell company called Creative Network Solutions (CNS). At Rawlings’s instruction, Horton allegedly created one or two fictitious invoices per month, in which CNS billed Melissa’s for services that CNS did not provide.

Horton provided the fictitious invoices to Rawlings who approved them and then provided them to a Melissa’s executive who ensured that Melissa’s paid CNS the amounts listed on the sham invoices, the indictment alleges.

Rawlings falsely represented to Melissa’s executives that CNS provided information technology and information systems services to Melissa’s. In fact, Horton had no background in computers and CNS never provided services to Melissa’s or any other company, the indictment states.

Prosecutors say that Rawlings issued cheques and send them to Horton by mail and he banked them into the account of the shell company; then Horton paid part of the money by sending cheques back to Rawlings, hence the mail fraud charges.

Rawlings pleaded guilty in August 2022 to one count of mail fraud. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for 1 June 2023. Horton denies all charges and will face up to 20 years in jail if convicted of all of them.