Investigations

On February 2, 9, and 16, 2018, two Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) supervisors, Anthony Willie and Kenneth Duane Adams, and three Virginia trucking company owners—Rolando Alfonso Pineda Moran, John Lee Williamson, and Elmer Antonio Mejia—were sentenced in U.S. District Court, Alexandria, Virginia, on charges of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud. Adams was also sentenced on a charge of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. These individuals pleaded guilty in November and December 2017.

 

Willie was sentenced to 84 months of incarceration, 3 years of supervised release, and a forfeiture of $221,720. Adams was sentenced to 64 months of incarceration, 3 years of supervised release, and a forfeiture of $172,220. Meija was sentenced to 6 months of incarceration, 2 years of supervised release, and a forfeiture of $224,276. Moran was sentenced to 6 months of incarceration, 2 years of supervised release, and a forfeiture of $110,953. Williamson was sentenced to 90 days of incarceration, 2 years of supervised release, and a forfeiture of $500,000.

 

Beginning in early 2013, Willie and Adams used their official positions as employees at VDOT’s Burke Area Headquarters to negotiate bribe agreements with several owners and operators of trucking and snow-removal companies in northern Virginia, including Moran, Williamson, and Shaheen Sariri. In exchange for obtaining snow-removal work, the owners would provide Willie and Adams a percentage or a flat rate of their hourly contracts as cash payments. In addition, Willie and Adams approved 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.

 

In addition, from 2011 through 2016, Adams conspired with Mejia, who agreed to subcontract 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.