Investigations
Pennsylvania Contractor Sentenced for Bid-Rigging
On January 22, 2018, Christopher Czop, owner of Czop/Specter Inc., an engineering and surveying company, was sentenced in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Norristown, to 3 years’ probation and a $10,000 fine, and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service for his role in a bid-rigging scheme. Czop pleaded guilty to one felony count of bid-rigging in November 2016.
In April 2015, the State of Pennsylvania filed a criminal complaint charging Czop with fraud related to a scheme involving Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) construction contracts. The State grand jury found that Czop’s company fraudulently obtained and executed several inspection contracts by cultivating a relationship with an assistant district engineer at PennDOT. Czop/Specter Inc. also directly profited from overbilling and false hours and mileage submitted by its employees in connection with the contracts.
In December 2014, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office filed criminal complaints charging 10 individuals with widespread corruption and bribery in a related scheme that affected 27 federally funded maintenance and construction contracts in the State. Czop/Specter Inc. employed four of the individuals, who have all pleaded guilty.
DOT-OIG conducted this investigation with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations.