Project Engineer, Two Prime Contractor Employees, and Subcontractor Plead Guilty to Conspiracy to Bribe State Official

NEW ORLEANS, LA—JEFFERY MARTIN BENTLEY, a/k/a Jeff Bentley, age 52, of Muscadine, Alabama, a former employee of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and de facto project engineer on a project for widening and improvements to the Interstate 10 highway in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, ALBERT F. ANDRE JR., a/k/a Buddy Andre, age 53, of Slidell, Louisiana, and JASON ADRIAN GUY, age 38 of Madisonville, Louisiana, both former employees of the prime contractor, and HARRY JOSEPH LABICHE, JR., age 69, of Metairie, Louisiana, a plumbing subcontractor, pleaded guilty today in federal court before U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon to Conspiracy to Bribe a State Official in Connection with a Program Receiving Federal Funds, announced United States Attorney Jim Letten.

According to court documents, Boh Brothers Construction Company was the prime contractor on a $72 million project for construction and improvement of Interstate 10 in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, 90% of which was financed by the U.S. government (“The I-10 Project”). The contract was being overseen by the Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD). BENTLEY was employed by DOTD and served as the de facto project engineer of The I-10 Project. During the spring of 2008, BENTLEY and ANDRE noted that the contract for The I-10 Project allowed up to $330,000 to be expended on pipe cleaning and decided that if the pipe cleaning were performed by a subcontractor rather than by employees of Boh Brothers, invoices could be inflated and the profits split among them.

In late summer 2008, BENTLEY and ANDRE arranged for LABICHE’s plumbing company to perform work cleaning pipes on The I-10 Project. After LABICHE’s plumbing company had been paid by Boh Brothers for the work, LABICHE, BENTLEY and ANDRE split the amount paid which exceeded the actual cost to perform the pipe cleaning. Later, GUY was recruited into the scheme to approve LABICHE’s invoices for cleaning pipe so that the invoices would be paid by Boh Brothers.

In all, LABICHE submitted invoices totalling $323,422.55 to Boh Brothers for services allegedly rendered in cleaning pipe on The I-10 Project and he was paid a total of $228,337 by Boh Brothers. LABICHE acknowledged that at most, the value of the work actually performed by his employees was $28,837.

Before paying the last invoices submitted by LABICHE’s plumbing company, Boh Brothers determined that the pipe cleaning work billed for on those invoices from LABICHE’s plumbing company had not, in fact, been performed. Boh Brothers did not pay those invoices and issued a credit to the State of Louisiana for the full amount it had previously billed the State for pipe cleaning allegedly performed by LABICHE. The four defendants have acknowledged that Boh Brothers is entitled to an award of restitution for the amount it repaid the State of Louisiana.

In the course of their guilty pleas, BENTLEY admitted receiving the sum of $106,330, some of which he paid to his co-conspirators. ANDRE admitted receiving the sum of $28,627, and GUY admitted receiving the sum of $9,000.

Speaking to today’s developments, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten stated:

“As we consistently achieve successes in our war against corruption, and as we demonstrate our determination to rebuild a more accountable, transparent, and honest government, and better way of life for our people, let the citizens we serve take heart that we will exploit every advantage, apply all appropriate leverage, and will press on toward our goals. We will continue to work with the FBI and the Louisiana State Police, as well as all of our law enforcement partners, to effectively and aggressively use the powers of our federal laws and our resources to expose those who illegally enrich themselves at the public’s expense.”

David Welker, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, added: “The corruption of public officials negatively impacts all facets of society as evidenced by guilty pleas over the last three weeks of individuals in the judiciary, the housing authority, parish government and now transportation and roadways. When will it end? The citizens of Louisiana must stop being apathetic and complacent and must become so incensed to fight this cancer in our society!”

Colonel Mike Edmondson, State Police Superintendent, stated:

“Transparency in government has been a priority for this Administration. Incidents such as this remind us of why we need to take a strong stance against public corruption. We each have a duty to maintain integrity in State Government so that the public trust is not compromised. These convictions send a strong message that corruption in Louisiana will not be tolerated.”

The four defendants each face a maximum term of imprisonment of five (5) years on the conspiracy charge, a fine of $250,000.00, and up to three (3) years of supervised release following any term of imprisonment. The defendants also face forfeiture of any and all proceeds of the criminal violation. GUY also agreed to forfeit one Rolex men’s watch as part of his plea agreement. Sentencing has been scheduled for January 28, 2010.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Louisiana State Police. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eileen Gleason.