U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey sentenced Ronald Simpson, a former IT director at a St. Louis-area university, to 46 months in prison for fraud. He was also ordered to repay $3.9 million to his employer and an IT equipment supplier.
Simpson, residing in St. Peters, Missouri, managed the repair and replacement of defective IT equipment at the university's locations. Starting around November 29, 2018, he sold numerous IT items to a third party under false pretenses that they were needed for university use.
He further defrauded the university's IT supplier by falsely reporting supplied equipment as defective, selling both the original and replacement items.
Judge Autrey directed Simpson to reimburse $3.19 million to the university and $780,233 to the supplier.
A university official stated in a victim impact letter that Simpson’s actions "struck a serious blow to our financial stability," diverting funds from essential student programs and damaging morale and reputation.
The IT supplier noted that Simpson exploited their policy of expedited replacements for critical infrastructure repairs before returning defective products.
Special Agent in Charge Ashley Johnson of the FBI St. Louis Division commented on the lack of substantial assets to seize from Simpson: “Ronald Simpson frivolously blew away millions of dollars on himself without any regard to how his crimes would damage the university, its employees and its students.”
Simpson pleaded guilty in June at U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one felony count of wire fraud.
The FBI led the investigation with significant cooperation from both Simpson’s former employer and the IT supplier. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman prosecuted the case.
