Former FEMA Employee and Contractor Indicted for Conspiracy

NEW ORLEANS, LA—DAVID DANGLER, age 58, a U.S. citizen residing in the country of Honduras, and ROBERT BLEVINS age 74, a resident of South Carolina, were indicted today by a federal grand jury in a three-count indictment with conspiracy, wire fraud, and witness tampering, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.

According to the indictment, in 2004 while a contracting officer's technical representative for FEMA, BLEVINS supervised a FEMA contract awarded to DANGLER and his company, 3-D Disaster Services, Inc. The indictment alleges DANGLER, with the assistance of BLEVINS, knowingly submitted false and fraudulent information in a contract proposal in an attempt to obtain a FEMA contract. Based on this fraudulent proposal, FEMA awarded 3-D Disaster Services, Inc. a $100 million contract in 2006 for maintenance and deactivation of thousands of FEMA travel trailers in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. It is further alleged before he resigned from FEMA, BLEVINS negotiated employment with DANGLER and did not make a disclosure of the facts involving this.

Also, the indictment alleges that on February 12, 2009, BLEVINS harassed another person in an attempt to dissuade that person from reporting the crimes to federal law enforcement.

If convicted of the conspiracy and wire fraud charges, each defendant faces a possible maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, $500,000 in fines, and three years’ supervised release. If convicted of the witness tampering charge, BLEVINS faces a possible maximum sentence of three years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and three years’ supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Letten reiterated that an indictment is only a charge and that the guilt of the defendants must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General, Baton Rouge Office, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marvin Opotowsky.