Colorado man convicted of multi-million-dollar scheme to sell hand sanitizer during COVID

A 51-year-old Castle Rock resident was recently found guilty on 15 counts of fraud by jurors in Denver federal court. 

According to a court document, Rico Tomas Garcia received $2.4 million from two businesses at the outset of the COVID pandemic. He spent the money to purchase a vehicle and three properties without delivering any of the promised product.

Garcia agreed in April 2020 to provide nine million 16-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer to a Virginia-based distributor of personal protective equipment (PPE) and safety work gear, according to the grand jury indictment in his case. A second company financed the deal for the distributor. 

If reached in full, the deal would have paid Garcia $37.8 million. But Garcia reportedly moved the first $2.4 million paid to him into accounts held by three corporations operated by he and his girlfriend. 

A month after making the deal, none of the product was delivered and the finance company halted payments and demanded a refund. Instead, Garcia, according to the indictment, falsified documents about his arrangements with a Chinese manufacturer of the hand sanitizer. 

The contract was terminated in June of that year. 

Garcia allegedly bought homes in Topanga Canyon, California and Sedalia, Colorado, plus an undisclosed Nevada property, with the ill-gotten proceeds. Federal prosecutors also allege Garcia moved over a million dollars of the remaining money into offshore accounts in the Caribbean.

A federal grand jury indicted Garcia in April 2024. He was taken into custody eight months later. The jury reached its verdict March 9 after a week-long trial, finding him guilty of nine counts of wire fraud and six counts of money laundering. 

Meanwhile, the distributor and its finance company are still trying to resolve their finances through a civil lawsuit filed the year the deal went south. 

Garcia is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 8.