Former Employee Sentenced for Defrauding Monroe County
| U.S. Attorney’s Office February 09, 2011 |
ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul announced today that Robert Morone, 55, of Gates, New York, was sentenced to 24 months in prison and fined $5,000 for defrauding Monroe County by District Court Judge David G. Larimer.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick, who handled the case, stated that the defendant was employed by Monroe County as a supervisor in Department of Environmental Services ("DES"). His duties as supervisor included being in charge of Monroe County's building maintenance projects.
Robutrad Corporation was a corporation set-up to employ union members for the purpose of providing skilled labor to Monroe County, including carpenters, plumbers, painters, electricians, and laborers. Morone oversaw the Robutrad workers who were assigned to the DES at the maintenance and construction unit. He assigned them work, supervised their daily activities and oversaw their time records. The defendant also had authority to order materials which would be used by the maintenance and construction unit.
From at least 2005 to November 2008, Morone executed a scheme to defraud Monroe County of money by causing the county to pay the Robutrad workers for days and hours they never actually performed services. He falsified time records to show workers had worked on specific projects when in fact they had not. Workers often got paid for working on non-county projects or days-off. Non county projects included working on private individuals' properties, some related to Morone; doing his errands; and providing services to the Monroe County Republican Party.
In addition, Morone on many occasions reimbursed the workers with Monroe County funds for the political donations made by the workers to the Monroe County Republican Party. And he on many occasions had the Robutrad workers pay him a portion of the illegal funds they received from Monroe County.
The total loss to Monroe County was between $400,000 and $1,000,000.
The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of James H. Robertson, Special Agent in Charge; the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, under the direction of Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn; and the Monroe County District Attorney's Office, under the direction of District Attorney Michael Green.