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Press Release

Former City of Vallejo Employee Pleads Guilty to Accepting a Bribe

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Donald Burton, 51, of Vallejo, pleaded guilty today for his part in a bribery scheme involving city contracts, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, Burton was previously employed in the Public Works Engineering Division of the City of Vallejo as the landscape manager. In that position, Burton regularly contracted with local landscape companies to provide services for Vallejo. The City of Vallejo received substantial federal funding, including over $500,000 in Community Development Block Grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In the Spring of 2017, Burton solicited a bribe from the owner of a company that provides maintenance services, requesting a 10 percent kickback in exchange for steering contracts to that company. The business owner complained to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and assisted in the investigation by meeting with Burton in an undercover capacity. During those meetings, Burton directed that additional days of work be added to contracted jobs so that Burton and the owner could divide up the profit. Burton stated that the excess amount in the contracts would generally add up to $5,000, and that Burton would take $2,000.

According to the plea agreement, the business owner provided the written contracts that inflated the number of days required to do a job from 10 days to 15, and Burton approved and signed the contracts. On June 7, 2017, the business owner met with Burton and gave him the $2,000 bribe payment. Burton was arrested after taking the payment.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared C. Dolan is prosecuting the case.

Burton is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez on November 7, 2017. Burton faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

Updated August 1, 2017

Topic
Public Corruption
Press Release Number: 2:17-cr-121 JAM