Dennis Merle Huston pled guilty to a complicated embezzlement scheme to steal millions from Franklin County, Washington.
Huston was the former director of administration and accounting at Franklin County Public Works. Huston confessed from March 1990 to February 2012, he fraudulently submitted invoices and payment requests for Critzer Equipment Company, then deposited the money into a company bank account he had opened. Critzer Equipment Company closed in November 2001, but the scheme continued after the legitimate business closed.
The Franklin County Auditor’s Office became aware of possible fraud in January 2012 while reviewing the paperwork of Franklin County vendors. The Pasco Police Department was subsequently granted a search warrant for the bank records of the Critzer Equipment Company business account.
The signature cards showed one person on the account, Huston. Huston was charged with stealing more than $2.8 million from Franklin County between 1996 and 2013, despite the scheme going further back to 1990. However, Pasco Police were unable to quantify amounts stolen between 1990 and 1996 due to lack of county records. Huston allegedly told investigators he used the money to buy cocaine and gamble at a local casino.
The scheme being discovered through a review of vendor payments leads to questions about the frequency of the reviews. The payments made to a company no longer in commission and the scheme spanning 22 years was due to lack of proper controls, allowing Huston to conduct his scheme with minimal fear of discovery.
Photo by Tara Winstead
