City project bribery alleged
An indictment names two former city employees and four construction executives.
Two former managers in Tulsa's Public Works Department and four area businessmen have been charged with participating in bribery and fraud schemes that purportedly involved millions of dollars intended for city streets, bridges and other public works projects.
Larry Wayne Baker, 52, a former design engineering manager, and Albert S. Martinez, 47, a former field engineering manager for the department, are charged in indictments unsealed Thursday with either receiving or paying bribes to influence the awarding of contracts by the city of Tulsa for engineering consulting services.
Charged with related crimes are Harlan Eugene Yocham, 49, of Sapulpa; Max Elliot Wolf, 56, of Owasso; Kenneth Kirk Shoemaker, 46, for whom records list homes in Bartlesville and Tulsa; and Stuart Jay Franklin, 48, of Claremore.
U.S. Attorney David O'Meilia said at a press conference that there is no evidence that the alleged criminal activity led to substandard design, construction or inspection work.
Instead, he said, the cases are about "graft and greed designed to line their (the defendants') pockets with money."
O'Meilia said authorities believe that Martinez took "several hundreds of thousands" of dollars.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Depew said $186,000 had already been seized from one of the defendants, but she would not identify him.
Four indictments are involved:
Martinez, Shoemaker and Franklin are charged in one case that alleges conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery.
A federal grand jury alleges that Shoemaker and Franklin bribed Martinez to use his vote and influence on a committee of the Public Works Department that awarded contracts for engineering inspection services on public construction projects to FBS Engineers Inc. and FBS Inc.
The indictment says Shoemaker was the vice president of FBS Engineers Inc. and the president and part owner of FBS Inc., and that Franklin was an accountant and an incorporator for FBS Engineers.
Martinez and Wolf are charged in another case that includes charges of wire and mail fraud, bribery, conspiracy and money laundering.
The grand jury alleges that Martinez and Wolf, the president of Horizon Construction Co., participated in a scheme from mid-2005 until last summer to fraudulently cause the city of Tulsa to pay Horizon's inflated final payment invoices on public construction projects.
Martinez and Yocham are charged in a case that alleges that between May and October 2007, Yocham paid and Martinez received a $10,000 bribe to influence a Public Works Department committee to award contracts to Yocham's company, Yocham Enterprises. Yocham also is accused of paying another bribe, this one for $7,000, for the same purpose.
Baker is charged with bribing a city employee with $9,000 to influence his vote in awarding an inspection contract.
Each indictment features provisions concerning the amounts of money that prosecutors will seek as proceeds of criminal activity if the defendants are convicted. The forfeiture amounts pertain to the total amount of the contracts involved in each case.
In the Martinez, Shoemaker and Franklin case, that amount is $2.3 million. In the Martinez and Wolf case, it totals slightly more than $1.9 million. In the third case, prosecutors seek $10,000 from Martinez and $69,430 from Yocham. The forfeiture amount in Baker's case is $199,000.
All of the defendants except Martinez made federal court appearances Thursday and were released on bond.
Michael Lahey, a special agent-in-charge in the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigations Division, said his agency's job would be "to follow the money trail" and eventually get those funds back in the hands of the people who are entitled to it.
O'Meilia said investigating and eliminating public corruption is one of the main tasks of the U.S. Department of Justice and his office.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic...1_Twofor132915
