James T. Jacks
Acting United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

FEDERAL JURY FINDS CONTRACTOR GUILTY OF
DEFRAUDING PANTEX OF NEARLY $200,000

AMARILLO, Texas — Following a three-day trial before U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson, a jury has found Roy David Williams, of Amarillo and Lake Tanglewood, Texas, guilty on all 29 counts of an indictment charging him with various offenses related to his defrauding Pantex from August 2007 through June 2008, announced acting U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas.

Specifically, Williams, 57, was convicted on one count of wire fraud, 11 counts of contractors bonds, bids and public records, 16 counts of false, fictitious or fraudulent claims and one count of theft of public money. The wire fraud count carries a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Each of the contractors bonds, bids and public records and public money counts each carries a maximum statutory sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Each of the false claims counts carries a maximum statutory sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

The Pantex Nuclear Facility is a nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility owned by the U.S. Department of Energy. Pantex is managed and operated by Babcock and Wilcox (B&W Pantex) for the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration. B&W Pantex routinely employs subcontractors to perform services for Pantex.

Roy David Williams owned and operated WAATTS, Inc., from an office at the Amarillo National Bank Plaza II in downtown Amarillo. On August 28, 2007, B&W Pantex and WAATTS, contracted for WAATTS to provide technical services to B&W Pantex. WAATTS’ staff included Williams, his wife and daughter, and several other individuals.

The government presented evidence at trial that as part of his scheme to defraud Pantex, Williams listed a business address in Lenoir City, Tennessee, for WAATTS, however that business address was actually the residence of an acquaintance of Williams; Williams did little to no business in Tennessee. Williams also listed an address in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as his permanent mailing address on his Pantex security badging documents, however, he and his family have lived in the Amarillo area since 1992 and he has no relatives or acquaintances who reside at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, address he provided to Pantex. Williams also provided Pantex a Leonard, Texas, (approximately 350 miles from Amarillo) address for one of his employees, however, that employee has resided in Amarillo since 2004.

In addition, the government presented evidence that as part of Williams’ scheme to defraud Pantex, he engaged in unauthorized future bid preparations and other WAATTS management activities, while he was at the Pantex plant and off site, and billed Pantex for those unauthorized hours. Williams submitted payment requests for hours he and his employees worked at the Pantex plant, when Williams knew that neither he nor his employees were at Pantex during those hours he billed. Williams also inflated the hours he and his employees worked, claimed per diem expenses he was not entitled to, and claimed per diem expenses for an employee that he was not entitled to claim.

Evidence was also presented to the jury that Williams requested Pantex send wire transfers to his bank account that he maintained in Tennessee and then requested the bank send corresponding wire transfers from the Tennessee bank to a bank account he maintained in Amarillo, all designed to 1) conceal the fact that he resided and did business exclusively in Texas, and 2) to claim fraudulent per diem payments. Williams submitted false, forged, altered, and counterfeited time cards to Pantex in support of service invoices that included hours not worked and hours spent on non-contract work.

Williams fraudulently received more than $169,000 of public money from Pantex.

The case is being investigated by the Department of Energy - Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christy Drake and Vicki Lamberson of the Amarillo, Texas, U.S. Attorney’s Office are prosecuting.

###