In the United States vs. Randall Swartz case, charges have been leveled against a 59-year-old former employee of the cheese-making company, Agri-Mark, for violation of the mail fraud statute under the U.S. Code, 18 U.S.C. Section 1341. According to investigations conducted by the Vermont State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations, Randall was found to have breached both elements of the mail fraud statute. The elements include: having devised or intending to devise a scheme to defraud (or to perform specified fraudulent acts); use of the mail to execute or attempt to execute the scheme.
What is the difference between mail fraud and wire fraud?: The mail fraud statute is closely related to the wire fraud statute. They are both federal crimes in the United States and they both involve a scheme to intentionally defraud a victim of money or property. The only difference is that mail fraud involves using the mail to acquire something to be used for an intended fraud, while wire fraud uses wire communications such as electronic transmissions.
For more information on mail fraud and wire fraud, contact our top-rated criminal defense attorneys in Burlington today. Our Burlington federal criminal defense lawyers are available to help you understand the federal mail fraud statute and the implications of these types of charges.
Court records surrounding the charges from the United States District Court state that up until January 2017, before he was fired, Randall Swartz was an employee of Agri-Mark. He was responsible for ensuring that all machinery and equipment at the company’s Cabot site was constantly in good working condition as the maintenance officer. Swartz was exposed to hundreds of thousands of dollars in preparing the maintenance budget for these machines monthly.
The indictment of Swartz follows his charge of intentionally but deceitfully influencing the company to purchase reverse osmosis equipment that would prove not to be useful for Agri-Mark but profitable for his business setup; Kingdom R.O. Swartz allegedly used this equipment without the consent or knowledge of Agri-Mark to meet the needs of his clients in his own company, making personal profits off of it. Information regarding the charges also states that he influenced his fellow employees to help him install the ordered equipment, R.O. systems, during company working hours. Swartz defrauded the company using this fraud scheme for seven years until he was found out and fired.
The United States District Court presided over by Judge Crawford discovered that the alleged actions of Randall Swartz had caused financial damages to Agri-Mark leading to about $452,558. Further government investigations report the figure may round up to estimates of about $1.2 million.
The prosecution of the case led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples has also leveled allegations of murder and homicide charges against Swartz regarding the death of his wife. Richard Goldsborough is the lawyer representing the accused to defend his charges of mail fraud and homicide in the District Courts as announced by the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont.
