Former ‘CFO of the Year’ from Johnson County sentenced for embezzling millions

Richard Scott Simkins of Overland Park, who one year ago pleaded guilty to embezzling some $3.1 million from the Kansas City company where he was chief financial officer, was sentenced Thursday to 6.5 years in federal prison.

“I’m truly sorry for my wrongful conduct,” Simkins, 57, wrote in a note to the court. But choking back tears, he had his defense attorney, J.R. Hobbs, read it aloud to Judge Roseann Ketchmark. “I have no one to blame but myself.”

Simkins, wearing blue jeans and white Nike running shoes, came from Fort Lauderdale, Florida where he has been living with this mother since 2020. He stood alongside his attorney.

His note appeared to hold minimal sway with the judge in Courtroom 8E of the federal courthouse downtown.

“This is a large amount of money that occurred over many years, which is always disturbing,” Ketchmark said before handing down her sentence. “It is not just a lack of judgment. .... I’m not seeing anything other than greed.”

The sentence, Kethmark continued, “sends a message to other CFOs. . . .They aren’t above the law.”

The sentencing, which began at 10:35 a.m., concluded at approximately 11:30 a.m. Simkins, with his attorney, was asked to immediately surrender himself to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Ketchmark said she would make a recommendation that Simkins serve his prison time in a federal facility in Pensacola, Florida, to be close to family, but the final decision would be up to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The former CFO of Genesys Systems Integrator, Simkins faced a maximum of 23 years in prison. In its sentencing memorandum, the U.S. government recommended that Simkins be given 6.5 years for a scheme “born out of greed.”

“Simkins abused his position of trust as the CFO for Genesys so that he could live lavishly,” the government argued.

The defense, in its pre-sentencing memorandum, argued for no more than a five-year sentence.

In his plea agreement, which he signed on January 20, 2022, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Mahoney, Simkins pleaded guilty to two felony counts. One was for mail fraud, for which he faced no more than 20 years in prison and a $350,000 fine. The other was for felony tax evasion, for which he faced no more than three years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Over seven years, Simkins used the money he embezzled to buy jewelry and to travel to places such as Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Estes Park, Colorado; Scottsdale, Arizona; and Orlando, Florida. Money also went to pay for his swimming pool expenses, lawn care, his children’s college tuition, his son’s fraternity payments, as well as apartment rent for himself and relatives. He also used the money to make mortgage payments on a half-million-dollar home in Overland Park.

Besides the theft from Genesys, Simkins also failed to pay the taxes on his embezzled money, in amounts totaling $868,000 to the IRS and about $129,000 to the state of Kansas.

A talented executive, Simkins worked for Genesys based in Kansas City for 19 years beginning in October 2001. He so grew the business, which makes conveyors, ovens and machinery for other businesses, that in 2012 he was named a “CFO of the Year” by the Kansas City Business Journal.

It was soon after, in 2013, that Simkins began embezzling and did so for the next seven years, until 2020. He was caught after a business audit. He was found to be working in league with the company’s manager of accounting, Cheryl Rose, now age 53, who was also arrested for embezzling some $210,000.

In court, the judge asked about the relationship between Simkins and Rose and was told that Rose became part of the crime in 2016, about three years after Simkins had begun and only after Rose apparently discovered what he was doing. Mahoney, the assistant U.S. attorney, said that Simkins brought Rose into the scheme at that point in return for money and her silence.

It was calculated that Simkins stole about $2.85 million for himself and $333,000 for Rose.

Rose pleaded guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. She has not yet been sentenced, but faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and restitution of the money she also embezzled.

As part of Simkins’ plea deal, he agreed to pay restitution to Genesys in an amount of $2 million, $1 million to Traveler’s insurance for its loss covering the Genesys embezzlement, $867,713 to the internal revenue service and $129,000 to the Kansas Department of Revenue for unpaid taxes.

Simkins did pay Genesys $146,000 in March after he liquidated his 401K, but has not paid anything since, nor has he held a job since August 2021 when he was a Home Depot trainee for a month. Besides the loss of $3.1 million, Genesys also spent more than a half million dollars investigating the embezzlement.

Simkins’ plea agreement also required him to forfeit any personal or real estate property derived from his crime. That included forfeiting a 3,000-square-foot house on Reeder Street in Overland Park, which has five bedrooms, four baths and Zillow values at $540,000.

Simkins’ ex wife, Stephanie Lyn Hamilton, still lives in the home. The couple have three adult children together. They divorced in 2017.

After Simkins’ 2020 plea, Hamilton filed a petition with the court arguing that the home did not belong solely to her former husband, but that she, too, had a financial interest in the home, which she did not want taken away and sold.

In November, the U.S. government agreed to accept an additional payment of $140,000, representing his stake in the home. That amount was paid in November allowing Hamilton to keep her house.

At the end of this prison term, Simkins is to serve three years of supervised release.