Dallas, Texas - A former Mission Support Specialist (MSS) with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Dallas pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing government property.
This guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas. This case was investigated by special agents with ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) in Houston.
Dwight Horton, 51, a resident of Grand Prairie, Texas, appeared in federal court Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renée Harris Toliver and pleaded guilty to a felony Information charging one count of theft of government property. Horton faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to the plea agreement filed in this case, Horton agrees to pay $35,000 restitution to HSI. He will remain on bond pending sentencing, which is set for Nov. 16 before U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade.
“There’s no doubt that the vast majority of federal government employees are good stewards of the taxpayers’ money,” said Charles Anderson, special agent in charge of ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility in San Antonio. “This internal investigation and resulting guilty plea, however, show there will be consequences to those very few who cheat the system by unlawfully lining their own pockets.” Anderson oversees the OPR office in Houston.
According to documents filed in the case, this investigation began in September 2014 when ICE OPR in Houston received a referral from HSI Dallas indicating that MSS Horton used a government fleet charge (credit) card to purchase automotive supplies without authorization and for his personal gain.
This investigation revealed that on several occasions, Horton used his government fleet charge card to purchase a set of four tires from at least two tire stores in Dallas. On each of those occasions, he took the tires with him rather than having them installed on a vehicle. The HSI Dallas office does not have a maintenance area/shop for mechanics to install tires on fleet vehicles.
This investigation further revealed that Horton used his government fleet charge card to purchase window tint. He also used the charge card to purchase gas at a Tom Thumb in Grand Prairie for his personally owned vehicles.
Horton resigned his position at HSI Dallas Oct. 14, 2014.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Wiley, Northern District of Texas, is in charge of the prosecution.