Former inspectors of defense contractor guilty of accepting bribes on Department of Defense contracts

Two former Department of Defense contractors who worked as inspectors at the U.S. Army installation at Ft. Hamilton in Brooklyn, N.Y., pleaded guilty for seeking and receiving bribes in connection with the award and performance of contracts. The contracts concerned the movement and storage of military household goods, the Department of Justice announced.

According to the charges filed in the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., Darryl Jay Johnson and Henry Maldonado sought and received cash and valuables from companies doing business with the Ft. Hamilton Transportation Office from at least as early as September 2003 until at least September 2008. In exchange for those bribes, they were influenced in the award of contracts to those companies. The former inspectors have pleaded guilty to one count each of bribery.

The bribery charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime, twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime or three times the monetary equivalent of the valuables received, if any of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

The investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division's National Criminal Enforcement Section and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service in Melville, N.Y.

The DOD is committed to protecting U.S. taxpayers from procurement fraud through its creation of the National Procurement Fraud Task Force, says a representative. The National Procurement Fraud Initiative, started October 2006, is designed to promote the early detection, prosecution, and prevention of procurement fraud associated with the increase in contracting activity for national security and other government programs.