Former Texas Construction Company Employee Pleads Guilty to Soliciting and Accepting Kickbacks on Federal Contract

WASHINGTON – A former project manager of a construction company that had substantial business at Fort Bliss, a U.S. Army installation in El Paso, Texas, pleaded guilty today to soliciting and accepting kickbacks from subcontractors on a federal contract with the U.S. Army, the Department of Justice announced.

According to a three-count felony charge filed on Sept. 9, 2011, in U.S. District Court in El Paso, Juventino Rosas solicited and accepted three separate kickbacks from subcontractors from in or about November 2008 until in or about May 2009.  The department said that Rosas in exchange promised favorable treatment to those subcontractors in connection with a prime contract held by his former employer.  According to the court document, the kickbacks included an air-conditioning system installed at his home valued at $14,000, and floor tile valued at $3,000 and painting work valued at $2,300, both installed at a bar Rosas partially owned. 

Rosas is charged with soliciting and accepting kickbacks, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 criminal fine.  The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine. 

Today’s plea arises from an ongoing investigation relating to federal contracts at Fort Bliss.  This investigation is being conducted jointly by the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Field Office, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in El Paso.

Anyone with information concerning suspicious activity relating to federal contracts at Fort Bliss or other military bases should contact the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Field Office at 312-353-7530 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm.