Last year I reported on the case of Ronald Boyd. Mr. Boyd was Chief of Police of the Port of Los Angeles. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are two of the busiest ports in the world, and Mr. Boyd had a nice job. But he saw an opportunity.
In 2011, Mr. Boyd and two other individuals entered into an agreement where Mr. Boyd would receive 13.33% of revenues related to a smartphone app called “Portwatch.” Mr. Boyd guaranteed that the port would adopt the app, and in return for that he got the promise of future revenues. There’s only one problem with that: Mr. Boyd didn’t disclose that. Oops.
Adding to his woes were the future plans of the business: The goal was to take Portwatch and get more money by developing and marketing a similar app called Metrowatch to sell to other government agencies. (The idea of Portwatch is that it would allow ordinary citizens to report crime at the port. In that sense, the app is quite good.) Unfortunately, Mr. Boyd decided that lying to federal investigators was a good idea (it’s not, of course).
Unfortunately, as the investigation into Mr. Boyd continued the government discovered something else:
Boyd also pleaded guilty to tax evasion in relation to his personal income tax return for 2011. In his plea agreement, Boyd admitted receiving income from a security business he operated, At Close Range. The income came from the owner of a company doing business with the Port, American Guard Services, and Boyd admitted that he failed to report that income on his personal income tax returns for years 2007 through 2011.
Mr. Boyd pleaded guilty to making false statements to FBI agents, tax evasion, and a misdemeanor charge of failing to file a tax return (he neglected to file a 2011 tax return for At Close Range). He’ll be sentenced in July.