Republic’s Myers sentenced on mail fraud, firearm possession charges

A Republic man will spend less than four years in prison after pleading guilty to mail fraud and illegally possessing a firearm. George Myers, 48, was sentenced to a total of 56 months in prison on Thursday, March 17 at the United States District Courthouse in Springfield. He was given 41 months for the mail fraud charge and 15 months on the firearms charge, with the sentences to be served consecutively. Afterwards, he will spend three years on supervised release.

Myers used son’s name to open accounts, defraud medical supply companies
The Commonwealth previously reported that Myers created Myers Companies, LLC, and listed his son as the company’s registered agent. Using his son’s identity, including forging his son’s signature, Myers submitted a customer credit application to Invacare Corporation to gain medical equipment and supplies. He also falsely told Invacare that Myers Companies had received a substantial contract, and that if the orders he’d placed with Invacare were not fulfilled, Myers Companies would lose the contract.
Later, in May of 2015, Myers told Invacare that Myers Companies had sent Invacare a check for $75,000. The following month, he told them that Myers Companies had sent Invacare a check for $125,000. Invacare never received either check.
Myers also defrauded Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare by submitting an account application under his son’s name and receiving medical equipment and supplies from them between April and May of 2015. At the time, Myers received the equipment in Ozark and Pittsburg, Kan.

Firearms charge
After Myers pleaded guilty to mail fraud, he was allowed to remain free while awaiting sentencing. However, he was arrested and booked into the Greene County Jail on Feb. 26, 2021, after being accused of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. The Commonwealth previously reported that, according to a motion for pretrial detention in that case, a witness stated he bought a yellow Camaro from Myers for $22,000 and two firearms, a Glock .380 and a Stoeger 12-gauge shotgun. The witness told law enforcement that Myers told him he sold the Camaro in May of 2020 and had received the firearms as partial payment. The witness said he’d observed the Glock on two occasions and asked about purchasing it from Myers for his wife. He said Myers declined, but gave him the shotgun instead. The witness added he later gave the shotgun to his wife as a gift.
In the motion, it was reported that FBI agents obtained the shotgun from the witness’s wife and determined it was the same one Myers received as partial payment for the Camaro. An ATF agent examined the shotgun and determined that it was made outside of Missouri, making it “transported in interstate commerce” before Myers possessed it. The indictment in the case stated it was illegal for Myers to possess the shotgun because of his previous felony convictions (including a count of felony forgery in Jasper County from 1998 and two counts of failure to pay state income taxes in 2016). According to Missouri law, it is a felony for a convicted felon to own a firearm. If the firearm crosses state lines, a felon in possession of it can be prosecuted in federal court.

Financial restitution ordered
In addition to his prison sentences, Myers was ordered to pay over $1 million in restitution. He is required to pay $321,593.75 to Invacare and $47,000 to Medical Depot as part of his sentencing in the mail fraud case. He was also ordered to pay $634,200.00 to Mark Farnham. Farnham sued Myers after he paid Myers $685,000 for “various vehicles, vehicle parts, and vehicle restoration services” which were never delivered or completed. Additionally, Myers was ordered to pay $10,000 to Allen Stephens. It was not immediately clear how Myers and Stephens were connected.
As of press time, Myers remained in custody at the Greene County Jail pending his transfer to federal prison.