Lexington Man Sentenced To 18 Months For Embezzlement From His Employer

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Thomas Scott Taylor, 38, of Lexington, Kentucky, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison by United States Senior District Court Judge Joseph M. Hood for exceeding authorized access of a protected computer, a felony under federal criminal statutes.  Judge Hood also ordered Taylor to pay restitution in the amount of $492,689.59.

Taylor previously admitted to unlawfully abusing his authority to access certain protected databases of his employer, IntelliSurvey Inc., for personal gain.  He further admitted that he knew that IntelliSurvey purchased and maintained a set of Amazon.com gift cards for use in rewarding IntelliSurvey’s survey participants and that some survey participants failed to redeem their Amazon.com gift cards.  Taylor identified those unredeemed gift cards and used them to credit his personal Amazon account.  In total, from December 16, 2011 until August 8, 2017, Taylor admitted he unlawfully stole $492,689.59 in Amazon.com gift cards from IntelliSurvey and used them to make 3,300 purchases at Amazon.com, ordering items that are easily resalable or for personal use.

Under federal law, Taylor must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence, and, upon release, will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for 3 years.

Robert M. Duncan, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Jon Oldham, Resident Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, and Lawrence Weathers, Chief of Police for the Lexington Police Department, jointly made the announcement today after the sentencing.

The investigation was conducted by the United States Secret Service and the Lexington Police Department.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Kathryn Anderson.