Second Former Tulsa Public Works Official Gets Prison Sentence
| U.S. Attorney’s Office January 13, 2010 |
Acting United States Attorney Thomas Scott Woodward announced today that a second former City of Tulsa Public Works official has been sentenced to prison this week.
Larry Wayne Baker, age 53, formerly the Design Engineering Manager for the Public Works Department was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Terence Kern to 44 months’ confinement in federal prison and was ordered to make restitution to the City of Tulsa in the amount of $134,000. Assets forfeited by Baker in the amount of $134,000 will be restored to the City of Tulsa.
Baker was originally charged in a Grand Jury indictment unsealed in January 2009 for his participation in a bribery scheme involving a Tulsa public works project. Baker pled guilty on April 9, 2009, to a charge of Bribery. He admitted that he paid another city employee approximately $9,000 between November 2006 and November 2007 to influence his vote in awarding an inspection contract. Baker is the fourth defendant to be sentenced to federal prison in this case. All six defendants that were charged have pled guilty. The remaining two defendants are scheduled to be sentenced over the next several months.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Clinton J. Johnson, Joseph F. Wilson and Catherine J. Depew prosecuted the case for the government. This public corruption scandal involving the Tulsa Public Works Department was first revealed to the public on January 22, 2009, when the federal indictments were unsealed and an announcement was made at a news conference by former U.S. Attorney David E. O’Meilia, FBI Special Agent-in-Charge James E. Finch, and IRS Criminal Investigations Division Special Agent-in-Charge Michael P. Lahey. They jointly announced at that time that two former managers at the City of Tulsa Public Works Department and four area businessmen were charged by a Grand Jury for their participation in bribery and fraud schemes involving millions of dollars intended for city streets, bridges and other public works projects in the City of Tulsa.