Lamonte Charles Moultray, Jr., 32, Great Falls, Montana, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sam E. Haddon to a term of 10 months in prison, a Special Assessment of $100, Restitution in the amount of $29,360, and 3 years of supervised release, in connection with his guilty plea to bank fraud/false statements to a federally insured bank.
In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl E. Rostad, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
Moultray was a Great Falls construction contractor doing business as Moultray Construction. In January 2008, Moultray obtained two construction loans/lines of credit from Mountain West Bank, a federally insured financial institution, to build two homes, one of them a pre-sold home on a lot on Rising Sun Lane, Cascade, Montana.
To access construction loan funds at the bank, Moultray was required to submit evidence of expenditures for which he could be reimbursed from the loan funds. During the course of the Rising Sun Lane project, Moultray submitted false invoices or lien waivers to the bank at least three different times to extract loan proceeds which the bank would not have released without the documented expenditure of funds to project subcontractors.
In one instance, Moultray used a subcontractor to drill a well on the property. The price charged “” $3,080 “” was several thousand dollars less than what Moultray had budgeted. Moultray created a false invoice for the driller, had one of his employees forge the subcontractor’s name on the invoice, and on March 10, 2008, submitted it to the Bank in the amount of $11,440.
Moultray also utilized a subcontractor for the electrical work on the home. The electrical subcontractor was ultimately asked by Moultray to scale back the proposal, and perform only limited work on the garage. On March 17, 2008, Moultray submitted a false lien waiver, ostensibly from the electrical subcontractor, in the amount of $13,500. The electrical contractor was actually paid significantly less, and Moultray later admitted that he did most of the electrical work himself.
Moultray also generated a lien waiver form for a heating, plumbing, and fireplace company that did not exist and on July 2, 2008, submitted it to the bank in the amount of $7,500. The bank disbursed funds based on this false lien waiver.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the “truth in sentencing” guidelines mandate that Moultray will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, Moultray does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for “good behavior.” However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The United States Attorney’s Office in Montana announced the sentence.
