Firm uses Filam to get govt contracts

April 2, 2008  --  Got something to say?
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HARRISBURG, Pa. - Dennis F. Campbell, 59, a former vice president for Cressona-based Scuylkill Products, Inc., has pleaded guilty to helping to organize a scheme that prosecutors say improperly netted his company $121 million in federal highway contracts set aside for minority-owned firms. Campbell faces up to five years in prison on the felony charge of conspiracy to defraud the federal government. Over 14 years, Schuylkill Products and a subsidiary, CDS Engineers Inc., used a Filipino American-owned firm in Connecticut as a front to get federally funded highway work in Pennsylvania, according to the guilty plea read in court. While it appeared that West Haven, Conn.-based Marikina Construction Corp., was bidding for and performing the work, in reality those tasks were carried out by employees of Schuylkill Products and CDS, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Brandler said.

In essence, Schuylkill Products and CDS rented Marikinas name, Brandler told U.S. District Judge Sylvia Rambo. Marikina, which is owned by Romeo Cruz, received a payment, part of which was kicked back to Campbell and an unnamed CDS supervisor, Brandler said. Brandler said investigators are examining whether a similar scheme was conducted in other states. No one other than Campbell has been charged.

An attorney for Cruz and Marikina, Robert Lacobelle, declined comment on the case. To conceal the role of Schuylkill Products and CDS, the companies prepared bids on Marikinas letterhead, put magnetic placards with the Marikina logo on their work vehicles and prepared phony payroll and vehicle lease records, prosecutors said. Marikina was certified as a minority-owned firm by the Pennsylvania highway department, which distributes the federal money.


Posted by News Team | Filed Under US News 

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