A nonprofit leader found guilty in federal fraud case has been sentenced to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $1.7 million in restitution, officials announced this week.
A federal judge on Monday sentenced Robert “Bo” Langford, who was convicted last year of one count of conspiracy and two counts of major program fraud, according to a statement obtained by the Los Angeles Times from Jose L. Linares, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
The nonprofit leader and nearly 30 co-conspirators worked for World Harvest, a nonprofit organization based in South El Monte that provided food to more than 800 church-based and other nonprofit feeding programs across the country, including 63 programs in California.
The conspiracy took place between roughly May 2008 and December 2013, and involved Langford and others using the organization’s hungry in order to make improper profits, according to The Times. They also took in additional funds by creating false invoices or invoices for goods never delivered, and by altering or fabricating invoices if an auditor inquired, according to the Justice Department.
Prosecutors did not challenge World Harvest’s altruistic mission, but, in a statement to the media, said the nonprofit misused “the federal system of feeding the poor as a way to line their own pockets.”
During the conspiracy period, World Harvest and its co-conspirators defrauded the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) of the equivalent of more than $2.3 million, according to officials.
The Justice Department said World Harvest was closed in November 2013. Langford was taken into custody Monday and will begin serving his sentence on April 30.
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