Her co-defendant, Nicholas T. Borton, was sentenced in August to three years’ probation and a $50,000 fine.
Moore and Borton were charged with securing federal contracts set aside for companies owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, including $1.4 million worth of work for NASA.
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The company, KLSS Solutions, was founded in 2008 by Steven T. Powers, a service-disabled veteran who died in 2013 from lasting side-effects of Agent Orange exposure. KLSS solutions was affiliated with a company named KLSS.
Moore and Borton then took over the companies.
“Shortly before (Powers’) death, Ms. Moore sent an email to her father explaining the company’s founder was suffering from a terminal illness and setting forth a proposed plan to assign her father, who is a service-disabled veteran, fifty-one percent ownership of KLSS Solutions,” court records say.
“However, her father did not exercise control or management over the daily operations in accordance with SDVOSBC requirements. Instead, Ms. Moore and her coconspirators operated KLSS Solutions as a shell-company for KLSS in order to secure contracts through the (service-disabled veteran) set-aside procurement program.”
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Powers’ wife, Anita Kelley-Powers, said she and her husband put their lives into KLSS Solutions and KLSS – both of which are now gone.
“We just built it with our hearts, because that’s what my husband wanted to do was have our own company someday, and for it to go down like this is really saddening,” said Kelley-Powers by phone Wednesday.
The sentencing memorandum notes Moore has two school-aged children, has had steady employment, holds degrees from Miami University and the University of Dayton and had no prior criminal history.
“Ms. Moore appreciates the seriousness of her offense and she has expressed genuine remorse for her actions,” court records say. “Ms. Moore has been able to reflect on her actions and has accepted full responsibility for them.”
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