Citing declining health due to multiple sclerosis, and the need for 24-hour assistance, one of the men who defrauded the federal government while working for the Savannah River Site MOX project is hoping to avoid a prison sentence of up to five years.
Phillip Thompson is instead requesting five years of probation, with the special condition of three years of home confinement with electronic monitoring.
That motion to depart from federal sentencing guidelines was submitted Friday to Judge J. Michelle Childs of U.S. District Court for South Carolina. Also known as a downward departure, this type of motion asks that a punishment be reduced to less than the minimum punishment given for a crime under federal statutes.
At the very least, Thompson’s request has delayed his prison sentencing, which was scheduled for Monday, April 23. Childs will consider the motion, but has not set a new date for sentencing.
In December 2015, the Justice Department indicted Thompson and his business partner, Aaron Vennefron, on 14 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy, and another count of theft of government funds. The two were accused of stealing $4.4 million from the government while subcontracting for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) – an unfinished plutonium recycling facility at the Energy Department site near Aiken, S.C.
Thompson and Vennefron, who founded Ohio-based AV Security, were hired as subcontractors in 2010 to provide goods and services for the MOX project. The two would fax invoices “listing nonexistent goods” and receive payments, according to the indictments.
After Thompson admitted to the government theft charge in February 2017, Vennefron did the same last June. The charge carries up to five years in prison, a fine of as much as $250,000, a maximum of three years of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment.
The motion for a lighter sentence says Thompson, 68, was diagnosed in 2010 with multiple sclerosis, a disease of the nervous system that breaks down communication between the brain and the rest of the body.
“Although he was able to continue working until December of 2015, his physical condition and ability to ambulate began a steady deterioration,” Martin Puetz, Thompson’s attorney, wrote in the motion.
Thompson’s condition requires him to have 24/7 caregiver service, which is currently provided by his wife, according to the motion. Puetz cited other cases in which a downward departure was granted due to the health of the guilty party.
“It is noteworthy that at this time Thompson’s medical condition is such that much of his time is spent seeing various physicians on a regular basis,” he wrote. “Although the government will obviously contend that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has adequate ability to provide care to Thompson, clearly the BOP does not have the ability to provide 24/7 caregiver assistance which is currently being delivered to Thompson by his wife.”
