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Four County Employees Arrested
By Greg L | 2 June 2009 | Crime, Prince William County | 10 Comments
The ongoing investigation of the Prince William Department of Information Technology takes a new turn tonight as the police announce the arrests of four individuals. Maneesh Gupta, John Roessler, Vernon Roessler and Richard Billingsley are all being held without bond this evening according to a press release from the Prince William County Police Department. The 153 charges levied against these individuals include racketeering, bid rigging, and money laundering. Gupta was the Deputy Chief Information Officer for the county, and is the highest level individual currently charged in the case. Two other employees have been fired, according to the News & Messenger.
I’ve little doubt that more arrests and indictments will follow. The Chief of OIT seems to have disappeared from the county’s organization chart and after going on some sort of leave is now “discussing” with County Executive Craig Gerhart whether he will keep his job or not. Funny how someone who immediately gets suspended when this scandal breaks has the opportunity to negotiate whether they get to keep their job.
Gerhardt either knew about this or should have known about this fraud, which apparently involved sending money stolen from our government overseas and had been continuing for at least five years. Just how does a county government not discover shell games being played with bidders and eight million dollars of missing money? Is this representative of the quality oversight that Craig Gerhart is exercising over the people who are working for him, and for us? This is shoddy beyond what incompetence can possibly deliver. Gerhart isn’t that stupid.
Of course all the talk now from Gerhardt’s crew is that an internal investigation uncovered this when that is patently false. The new independent auditor, who reports to the Board of Supervisors and not Craig Gerhart, uncovered this criminal behavior in a matter of weeks after having gone undetected by internal auditors for years. I see an enormous “cover your butt” operation going on here as the people who should have caught this fraud start trying to take credit for the job they had been failing to do for years. It’s funny to see Gerhart try to get out in front of this holding the press conference announcing the arrests when the reason this crime has gone on so long is either his complicity in it or incompetence in overseeing the Department of Information Technology.
That’s going to come back and haunt him. I’ve little doubt of that.
There’s much more to this story, I believe. I can’t wait until some of the folks under indictment start rolling over on the folks that really matter, and when that happens we’re going to get some names that are a little more familiar than the mid-level employees we’ve heard about so far.
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10 Comments
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The county executive needs to go. He is in charge, he’s ultimately responsible for our tax dollars being spent wisely and correctly. He needs to fall on his sword. This is the real world, time to take responsiblity for actions.
As a currently un-employed IT person, does this mean there are job opeings in PWC?
It’s good to see the PWCPD, and, I assume, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office moving to investigate and prosecute ALLEGED (sprinkle that word around a little more, Greg, to protect those who might truly be innocent) “white collar” crime. Had they been interested in mortgage fraud and deceptive loaning practices back in ‘04 and ‘05, we all could have been spared some of the economic pain we’re experiencing today.
Investigating and prosecuting crimes of violence is an indispensable part of any local police force and prosecutor’s office. But what really separates a good law enforcement agency from a great one is the investigation and prosecution of those who steal with a pen and computer, as well as those who use a knife or gun.
Get in line behind the unwashed masses that Bill Gates prefers, Magoo.
Now we need something similar in Loudoun and the school board
“The county executive needs to go.”
He’s going to Amtrak, according to a breaking news story in the Messenger.
Hold on…he is not hiring on as an employee. He will be working with them in a consultant / contractor position. Which means he is likely to have had a business set up and operational prior to this scandal breaking.
For years rumors have been rampant that Briley and Grant from Economic Development own and operate multiple businesses and co-workers know it!
Some have suggested that some Supervisors have benefited from it.
What about Miles Friedman who makes recommendations that result in RFP’s that are awarded to his businesses. Our BOCS has been ignoring this.
All county contracts are subject to BOCS approval.
Seems to me that the buck stops, not just at the County Exec, but at the BOCS as well.
The real heroes in this case are the few employees that suspected that something was going on in OIT, and especially with Mr. Gupta, yet they feared retribution if they spoke up about it. For years they suspected there was corruption going on (yes, years), and in some cases had some tangible facts. I know they tried numerous times to bring it to the attention of upper management, but each time they were told to sit down and shut up, and in a couple of cases they were eithered demoted or persuaded to leave the county. Yet they persisted, and eventually a couple of the “low-level employees” got through to the right people, and finally “the inner circle” could no longer hide the corruption and their knowledge of it.
I don’t believe for a minute that Craig knew nothing about what was going on. He knew – he had to know – yet he consciously decided to turn a blind-eye to it, especially because it involved people in “the inner circle”- people he “trusted”. And thus, today he resigns. Coincidental – not on your life.
And to those county employees, who persisted, knowing that one bad move could cost you your job: I applaud each and every one of you. None of you will get recognition for what you have done, but you all deserve a metal. In fact, I think you all should be promoted into the new County Executive Office – it certainly needs and deserves people of your caliber and integrity.
PWC isn’t the only place that is having this problem. The case below goes to even higher levels of government.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/04/dimasi_scandal_raises_issues_for_patrick/