November 10, 2014

Shreveport Man Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Role in LSU Health Sciences Center Bribery Scheme

SHREVEPORT, LA—United StatesAttorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that a former staff member at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for mail fraud in connection with a bribery scheme involving a laboratory supply company owner.

Anthony Roggero, 69, of Shreveport, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. for one count of mail fraud. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $200,000 to LSUHSC payable jointly and severally with his co-conspirators. According to evidence presented at the guilty plea hearings, Roggero, who was the LSUHSC’s Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) laboratory assistant director and had purchasing authority to buy up to $5,000 for reagents and supplies. LSUHSC’s HLA laboratory played a critical support role for solid organ and bone marrow transplants, performing cross matching and tissue typing analyses. Unknown to LSUHSC, Roggero conspired with Sangre Biologicals owner, Rita M. Myler, to buy products from her company from at least June 2001 to July 2008. Sangre Biologicals received more than $540,000 from LSUHSC during the course of the scheme. In return for doing business with Sangre Biologicals, Myler mailed cash kickbacks, of which Roggero deposited approximately $117,000 in cash to his account at a credit union.

Myler, Roggero’s co-conspirator, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud on October 7, 2014. A sentencing date of January 26, 2015 was set.

The FBI conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cytheria D. Jernigan is prosecuting the case.