Investigations
VDOT Supervisors and Trucking Company Contractors Plead Guilty to Fraud Scheme
In November and December 2017, six individuals pleaded guilty to commiting honest services mail and/or wire fraud. Two supervisors at the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Anthony “Andy” Willie and Kenneth “Kenny” Duane Adams, pleaded guilty to the charges on November 16. Four northern Virginia trucking company owners—Rolando Alfonso Pineda Moran, Elmer Antonio Mejia, John Lee Williamson, and Shaheen "Shane" Sariri—entered their pleas on November 13 (Moran and Meija), November 15, and December 19, respectively. Adams also pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
According to the indictment, beginning in early 2013, Willie and Adams used their official positions as employees at VDOT's Burke Area Headquarters to enrich themselves. Specifically, they allegedly negotiated bribe agreements with several owners and operators of trucking and snow-removal companies in northern Virginia, including Moran, Sariri, and Williamson. In exchange for obtaining snow-removal work, the owners provided Willie and Adams with a percentage or a flat rate of their hourly contracts as cash payments. In addition, Willie and Adams signed off on the companies' invoices to VDOT. From the 2013–2014 to the 2015–2016 snow season, Willie and Adams received approximately $140,000 in cash bribes.
The indictment also alleged that from 2011 through 2016, Adams conspired with Mejia on an agreement in which Mejia subcontracted snow-removal work to Adams' nominee-owned company, Supreme Landscaping. Mejia paid Adams more than $160,000, frequently disguising the money as payment for work allegedly performed by Supreme Landscaping.
DOT-OIG conducted this investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Virginia State Police, and Fairfax County Police Department, with assistance from the VDOT Office of Assurance and Compliance.