Retired Water Pipe Repair Supervisor Sentenced for Bribery

William J. Edwards, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, together with Jose A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Cleveland Field Office, C. Frank Figliuzzi, Special Agent in Charge of the Cleveland Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Michael McGrath, Chief, Cleveland Division of Police, announced today that Oscar Wells, Retired Water Pipe Repair Supervisor, was sentenced by United States District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr.in a bribery case to a prison term of 18 months, three years of supervised release and a special assessment of $400.00. He was also ordered to pay the City of Cleveland $40,000.00 in restitution. Wells was convicted by a jury on three counts of Hobbs Act bribery and one count of conspiracy to violate the Hobbs Act. Wells, age 58, resides in Richmond Heights, Ohio.

Two co-defendants, Jimmy Lee Gates, the former Assistant Chief of Distribution of the Cleveland Water Division (“CWD”), and Liberator Noce, owner of Noce Enterprises, Inc., pleaded guilty and were sentenced earlier as set forth below.

Wells was at the center of two bribery schemes. In the first scheme, he demanded cash payments totaling approximately $35,000 to $40,000 from Liberator Noce in connection with Noce’s contracts to repair and replace fire hydrants for the CWD. The bribes were in exchange for Wells processing Noce’s invoices for payment, and in exchange for Wells giving Noce job orders under Noce’s contract with the CWD. In addition, Wells suggested that Noce inflate his invoices to the CWD to fund the bribe payments. The CWD paid Noce approximately $3.8 million during the period 2002 through 2004.

In the second scheme, Wells solicited and received two bribes, one of $200 and one of $100, from a second hydrant contractor in 2004.

Wells is the last in a series of thirteen defendants (four city employees and nine contractors) to be sentenced in the investigation of corruption in the City of Cleveland Water Division. The other defendants were:

(1) Norman Gore, General Storekeeper at the Water Division, was convicted on April 25, 2005 and sentenced to 60 months incarceration. He was ordered to pay $1,337,597.20 restitution to the City of Cleveland;

(2) James Stallworth, Warehouse Manager at the Water Division, was convicted on November 18, 2004. Stallworth was sentenced to a 33 month term of imprisonment and ordered to pay $793,000 restitution to the City of Cleveland;

(3) Kenneth McNeil, Head Storekeeper at the Water Division, was convicted on November 17, 2004 and sentenced to 3 years probation. He was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution to the City of Cleveland.

(4) Joseph B. Sturman, President and Owner of Victory White Metal Company, was convicted on November 22, 2004 and sentenced to 24 months incarceration, a $10,000 fine, and ordered to pay $1,156,853 restitution to the City of Cleveland. Sturman agreed to forfeit $584,705 in illegal proceeds;

(5) Samuel Petrony, Head of the Water Division at Victory White Metal Co., was convicted on November 29, 2004 and sentenced to 41 months incarceration and ordered to pay $1,949,853 restitution to the City of Cleveland;

(6) Arnold Kaufman, President of Woodhill Supply Co., was convicted on January 5, 2005 and was sentenced to 21 months incarceration and a $5,000 fine. Kaufman was ordered to pay $180,744.21 in restitution to the City of Cleveland, and Kaufman agreed to forfeit $90,372.10 in illegal proceeds;

(7) Michael Semlar, Salesperson at Woodhill Supply Co., was convicted on March 22, 2005. Semlar was sentenced to a 21 month term of imprisonment and ordered to pay the City of Cleveland $180,744.21 in restitution.

(8) Sebastian Morabito, Owner of Morabito Trucking, was convicted on January 25, 2007. Morabito was sentenced to a 24 month term of imprisonment and a $25,000 fine. He was ordered to pay the City of Cleveland $75,000 restitution.

(9) James Oppermann, Owner of Richmond Valve and Pipe, was convicted on April 10, 2007 and sentenced to 6 months home confinement without electronic monitoring and $37,000 in restitution to the City of Cleveland.

(10) Peter C. Zappola, a sales representative for a plumbing supply company, was convicted on June 8, 2007 and sentenced to imprisonment of 12 months and one day and restitution in the amount of $216,000 to the City of Cleveland.

(11) Liberatore Noce, owned and operated Libby Construction Company, Inc was sentenced on October 31, 2008 to probation with intermittent confinement of 1 weekend a month for 9 consecutive months and $100,000 restitution to the City of Cleveland.

(12) Jimmy Lee Gates, Assistant Chief of Distribution was sentenced on November 7, 2008 to 19 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, 3 years supervised release and restitution, joint and several with co-defendants in the amount of $40,000.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Ann C. Rowland and Antoinette Thomas Bacon following investigation by the FBI, the IRS and the City of Cleveland Division of Police.