Investigations

On November 3, 2016, Frank DeCarlo, a woodcraft supervisor at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy’s Department of Public Works, was arrested by DOT-OIG and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CID) special agents. On October 14, 2016, a criminal complaint was filed against DeCarlo in the Eastern District of New York, charging him with accepting bribes.

 

DeCarlo was responsible for drafting statements of work for construction-related work and soliciting and obtaining quotes from vendors. He allegedly received cash kickbacks from favored contractors and vendors in return for awarding contract work. The kickback schemes included structuring purchases from vendors to remain below certain dollar thresholds to avoid the competitive bidding process. In other instances, DeCarlo instructed a cooperating witness (CW) to provide bogus “covering” bids, in addition to the CW’s actual bid, to guarantee contract awards. In those instances, the CW paid DeCarlo 10 percent of the contracted amounts.

 

DOT-OIG conducted this investigation jointly with IRS-CID.

 

Note: Indictments, informations, and criminal complaints are only accusations by the Government. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.