Wife Pleads Guilty to Concealing Husband’s Bribe
| U.S. Attorney’s Office December 21, 2012 |
ALEXANDRIA, VA—Angela Jannell, 50, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to misprision of a felon for concealing her husband’s action of taking more than $200,000 in bribes to ensure a Virginia Railway Express (VRE) subcontractor would be retained by VRE.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Debra Evans Smith, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Kathryn Jones, Regional Special Agent in Charge for the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States District Judge Claude M. Hilton.
Jannell, a wife of a former facilities manager for the VRE, made her first appearance in court today and pled guilty to a criminal information charging her with one count of misprision of a felony. She faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison when she is sentenced on March 15, 2013.
In a statement of facts filed with her plea agreement, Jannell was married to a former VRE facilities manager who provided oversight of VRE contracts for individuals and companies providing landscaping and maintenance of VRE stations and facilities. Since 2003 and continuing through March 2012, Jannell’s husband agreed to take up to $4,000 each month in return for giving favorable evaluations that would ensure an individual and this person’s company would be retained as a subcontractor for VRE. Jannell knew of this illegal arrangement. Her husband concealed the bribes by sending monthly invoices to the subcontractor from a nominee company, falsely billing the company for services that were never rendered. Jannell signed the paperwork to create the nominee company for which she was the president. She was also aware that the nominee company was used to conceal the wrongful nature of the payments from the subcontractor but failed to notify law enforcement.
According to court records, the total amount of bribes paid exceeded $200,000 and was less than $400,000. Jannell had access to the bribes and used the money to pay for household bills and expenses.
Her husband, Kevin Wirth Jannell, 49, pleaded guilty on September 27, 2012, to one count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on January 18, 2013.
Authorities request that anyone with information regarding this case or similar allegations of fraud or corruption to call the FBI’s Northern Virginia Public Corruption and Government Fraud tip line at (703) 686-6225 or send an e-mail to nova.corruption@ic.fbi.gov.
The investigation was initiated by FBI’s Washington Field Office and the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorneys Mark Lytle and Jasmine Yoon from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia’s Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Unit are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.