Former Miami-Dade County Aviation Department Procurement Employee Charged in Bribery Scheme

A former employee in the Procurement Section of the Miami-Dade County Aviation Department has been charged with accepting bribery payments.

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

Glenwood Pla, 50, of Miami, a former procurement specialist for the Miami-Dade County Aviation Department, was charged in a criminal Information with bribery in programs receiving federal funds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 666. If convicted, Pla faces a statutory maximum term of 5 years’ imprisonment and a fine up to $250,000. Pla had his initial appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry L. Garber.

19. set forth in the charging document, Pla was employed in the procurement section of the Aviation Department, creating and sending RFQs for lighting products requested by the Aviation Department to a qualified pool of vendors. Pla collected and tallied the bids and declared the lowest responsive bidder on the RFQs. A co-conspirator owned companies that provided, among other items, lighting products and services to the Aviation Department. The co-conspirator sought contracts for the installation of lighting products for his companies and sought contracts for the sale of lighting products on behalf of a second co-conspirator.

Beginning in or about 2011, Pla would notify one of the co-conspirators that RFQ’s were being issued for lighting products, and the second co-conspirator would then bid on the sale of the lighting products and was awarded a number of the contracts.

From in or about 2011 and continuing through in or about 2015, Pla accepted and received in excess of $35,000 in U.S. currency, which the defendant knew was paid to him with the intent to influence and reward Pla for utilizing his official position to favor his two co-conspirators.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI in connection with the investigation of this matter. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey N. Kaplan.

1. criminal Information is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.