Defense contractor sentenced in federal fraud case

Nicholas T. Borton gets three years’ probation and agrees to cooperate with government investigators.

One of the two officials of a now dissolved local government contractor for NASA and the Air Force was sentenced Wednesday to three years’ probation and a $50,000 fine for unlawfully securing service contracts from the U.S. Air Force and NASA.

Nicholas T. Borton, 51, had pleaded guilty in Dayton’s U.S. District Court by bill of information to conspiracy to defraud the United States government using a program meant to benefit service-disabled veterans.

Assistant U.S. attorney Dwight Keller recommended that Borton receive probation in part because of his lack of criminal record and Borton’s “past and anticipated future cooperation to the government.”

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U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Rose agreed, and told Borton “whatever my probation officer asks, do whatever they ask without question.”

Borton’s voice cracked as he apologized to the military, the court and his family.

“I understand the severity of what I did and take full responsibility for my actions,” Borton told Rose. “I will never be involved in any legal conduct going forward.”

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Defense attorney John McCaffrey said his client was “truly embarrassed for what he has done in this instance. He’s really beside himself, your honor.”

Borton’s co-defendant, Minda L. Moore, is scheduled for trial Sept. 18. Charges against Moore include conspiracy to file false claims, make false statements and wire fraud.

Moore, who worked at KLSS Solutions in Greene County, was indicted for unlawfully securing services contracts and subcontracts, including $1.4 million from NASA, according to court records.

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Moore’s father, Michael Hook, a veteran, was recruited to serve as a “straw man” in order for the contractor to continue to receive set-aside government contracts meant for disabled veterans after Borton’s father-in-law died.

Court records allege Moore and Borton fraudulently held out KLSS Solutions as a set-aside business qualified as a Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB).

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Court records say Borton’s father in law, Steven T. Powers, “was in fact a service disabled veteran.”

An online obituary for Powers says he died Feb. 27, 2013, from lung cancer and brain cancer due to Agent Orange exposure. It says KLSS was Powers’ “dream come true” accomplishment.

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