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Press Release

FORMER HATTIESBURG PUBLIC WORKS GENERAL MANAGER PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL KICKBACK SCHEME

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Mississippi

 

Hattiesburg, Miss. - John T. "Tim" Pittman, 54, a former Public Works General Manager for the City of Hattiesburg, pled guilty today in U.S. District Court to conspiracy involving a kickback scheme which defrauded the U.S. Department of Agriculture, announced U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis, FBI Special Agent in Charge Donald Alway, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Patrick Munday with the USDA Office of Inspector General.

Pittman’s father, T.L. Pittman, Jr., owns multiple apartment complexes throughout the State of Mississippi which were financed through the USDA. T.L. Pittman, Jr., through his company Century Management, Inc., hired a contractor to do work for one of his USDA-financed apartment complexes with the agreement that the contractor would kick back part of the contract to T.L. Pittman, Jr. Century Management then awarded various contracts to the contractor, who kicked back money to T.L. Pittman, Jr. and his son, John T. "Tim" Pittman for the awarding of such contracts.

Pittman will be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Keith Starrett on May 18, 2015, at 1:45 p.m. The maximum penalty for conspiracy is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the USDA Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst is prosecuting the case.

Updated February 6, 2015