COVID Crime: Richmond man sentenced for massive fraud, losses of $17 million
HOUSTON - A 33-year-old Richmond man who operated a medical supply company in Porter will spend the next nine years behind bars for a massive fraud that resulted in the losses of $17 million, officials said.
Caleb M. McCreless plead guilty to the back on May 2.
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McCreless was ordered to prison for 110 months to be followed by three years of supervised release and restitution of over $36 million to 11 different victims.
Given the sheer amount of loss McCreless caused, the judge added that the victims would probably never be paid back in full.
"Mansions, a Rolls Royce, a lavish lifestyle, and good old fashioned greed motivated Caleb McCreless to take advantage of a nation’s emergency, exploiting the most vulnerable amongst us," said U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani in a release. "McCreless started his scheme by taking almost $1 million from the hands of those trying to treat Native American elders at a time when COVID-19 was decimating that population. His action were deplorable, and now it’s time to pay. No more cars, no more mansions, just a small cell."
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Officials said McCreless orchestrated a scheme to defraud retail buyers in the medical services sector by promising to deliver high-grade surgical gloves he did not have. He took initial payments that ran into the millions, but never delivered gloves or only delivered a small portion of them at a vastly inferior quality.
McCreless admitted when he ran out of victims from May 2020 through spring 2021, he induced millions in payments from his victims by offering surgical gloves from a trusted Chinese company. But McCreless actually had no such relationship.
After taking the money, he would try to stall the victims and then eventually stopped communicating with them. Many failed deals ended in civil litigation. McCreless used the money to pay off co-conspirators and fund a lavish lifestyle such as buying exotic vehicles and a mansion.
The FBI and Harris County Constable’s Office Precinct 1 conducted the investigation.