The former owner of a Conway construction company was sentenced Friday to three years in federal prison for defrauding Centennial Bank out of more than $2.9 million.
Thomas Matthew Beasley, 47, who now lives in McKinney, Texas, with his wife and two children, pleaded guilty Sept. 18 to a single bank fraud charge. He admitted that from August 2016 through December 2016, he created and submitted 17 invoices falsely claiming customers owed his company $2,911,617, causing the bank to extend his line of credit by that amount until the funds came in.
But Beasley's company, Cobas, never caught up with the shortfall, and just as the bank prepared to confront him in early 2017, he went in and confessed, saying his actions were a misguided effort to keep his business afloat so that his employees would keep being paid and his family wouldn't suffer financially.
The bank's predecessor had done business for more than 30 years with Beasley's father, Tom Beasley, who said at his son's sentencing hearing Friday that he ultimately sold his farm, which he had spent 40 years developing, to pay off a portion of the debt, as part of a settlement with the bank.
"I couldn't pay any more. That's all we had," the elder Beasley told U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr.
The younger Beasley still owes the bank $2,019,773.36, which Marshall ordered him to repay, beginning during his incarceration and continuing during his two years of supervised release.
Defense attorney Bryce Brewer of Conway tried to persuade Marshall to sentence Beasley to probation in lieu of prison time or allow him to serve his time on home confinement, arguing that would allow him to continue working in McKinney and pay the money back quicker while supporting his family.
"Mr. Beasley never, at any time, used the ill-gotten funds to engage in a lavish or profligate lifestyle," Brewer said in a sentencing memorandum, saying he was trying to protect his family and his employees when "he found his business in dire financial straits."
But Randy Sims, president and chief executive officer of Home BancShares, which owns Centennial, spoke on behalf of a contingent of bankers and creditors who crowded into Marshall's courtroom, urging Marshall to impose the maximum sentence possible.
Sims told the judge that Beasley confessed, "not because he was remorseful, but because he got caught. That is why all this came to a head."
"The bank lost over $2 million," Sims said. "The Beasley family lost their property, their land."
He said Beasley took advantage of his friendship with bankers he had known for years, and as a result of his actions, they lost money personally as well.
Sims, who was formerly president of the bank, also told the judge that as a result of Beasley's actions, "We had to redesign our program to help small businesses."
He compared white-collar crimes such as Beasley's to bank robberies, both of which cause banks to lose money, noting that bank robbers are generally sentenced to longer prison terms, even though fraud crimes are more damaging to the bank financially.
"If we keep letting people off with light sentences and serving time at home, what does that say?" Sims asked. He reminded the judge that Sims carried out his crime methodically, "every time he created a false invoice. ... and he knew exactly what he was doing."
"We just really don't think that person should be allowed to sit at home as his punishment," he said. "We believe and we ask that you consider giving him the maximum sentence in jail."
Federal sentencing guidelines recommended a penalty of up to 46 months -- or nearly four years -- in prison. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jana Harris asked only for a sentence within the guideline range, saying Beasley "was in a position to know better. It wasn't like he had to steal to put food on the table for his family. He had resources."
She referred to his parents and to friends and other family members who sent letters to the court seeking leniency for him.
While Beasley did go to the bank and report his theft himself, she said, "he was about to be caught."
Beasley, his voice breaking, told Marshall that his actions were motivated by selfishness, arrogance and a desire to continue operating his business without any outside help. He acknowledged causing "a significant injury to my parents," saying, "I almost put them out of a home."
He said his actions also hurt his relationship with his wife and his children. Then, with Marshall's permission, he turned toward the courtroom gallery, apologizing through tears to the bank and to his family.
"I accept your apology, son," Tom Beasley responded.
"Matthew did this strictly to keep his business running," his father said. But he also said he thought the bank was partially at fault for allowing loan officers to continue advancing money, letting the unpaid debt accumulate, "when they realized it was risky." He said the bank should have called him, as a co-signer of the loan, before it got out of control.
Another bank official then asked to speak as well, telling the judge that there were three loans involved -- the business line of credit and two others -- but the elder Beasley wasn't a co-signer on the business loan, "so I couldn't tell them." He said payments were still being made on the other loans, giving him no reason to contact the elder Beasley.
Marshall said he was impressed by Beasley's "genuine remorse" and seeing him step forward and apologize directly, but that a sentence of probation or home detention wasn't appropriate.
"It is a matter of deterrence," he said. "We have to be able to rely on our word when we are doing business with each other."
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service-Office of Inspector General and the Conway Police Department.
Metro on 02/23/2019