Home Buffalo Press Releases 2010 Former Monroe County Employee Robert Morone Pleads Guilty to a New Charge of Defrauding Monroe County
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Former Monroe County Employee Robert Morone Pleads Guilty to a New Charge of Defrauding Monroe County

U.S. Attorney’s Office July 29, 2010
  • Western District of New York (716) 843-5700

ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. announced today that Robert Morone, 54, of Gates, New York, a former Monroe County employee, pleaded guilty in front of District Court Judge David G. Larimer to defrauding Monroe County of money relating to the services of county workers, paid for with federal funds. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick, Chief of the Office’s White Collar Division who is handling the case, stated that Morone had previously pled guilty on December 22, 2009, to using the mail to defraud Monroe County of his honest services. However, on June 24, 2010, the U. S. Supreme Court decided a trio of cases involving honest-services mail and wire fraud and limited the scope of the honest services fraud criminal statute. As a result, the government and Morone have asked the district court to vacate his initial plea of guilty in lieu of today’s plea to a different criminal statute.

The facts leading to today’s guilty plea remain the same as described previously. Morone was employed by Monroe County as Superintendent of Maintenance and Construction, and was assigned to Monroe County’s 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 for such projects. Morone oversaw the Robutrad workers who were assigned to the DES and was in charge of providing them work assignments and supervising their daily activities and assuring time records are accurately provided. He also had authority to order materials which would be used by the maintenance and construction unit.

From at least 2005 to November 2008, Morone admitted that he 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 acknowledged that on many occasions, he reimbursed the workers with Monroe County funds in exchange for the workers making political donations to the Monroe County Republican Party. On other occasions, Morone had Robutrad workers pay him a portion of the illegal funds they received from Monroe County.

The parties agreed in the plea agreement that the loss to Monroe County was between $400,000 and $1,000,000. The plea agreement also provides that Morone has agreed to cooperate with the federal and state governments in any ongoing investigations.

“This scheme was nothing less than a form of public corruption” said U.S. Attorney Hochul. “As today’s conviction demonstrates, our office stands ready and willing to investigate and fully prosecute corruption or theft of public money, in whatever form it may take in the future.”

The plea was the culmination of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James Robertson; the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, under the direction of Patrick O'Flynn; and the Monroe County District Attorney's Office under the direction of District Attorney Michael Green.

A sentencing status conference is scheduled for Nov. 4th in front of Judge Larimer.

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