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Press Release

Former State DOT Employee Sentenced for Federal Program Theft

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of New York

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Jerome Lauzon, age 45, of Gansevoort, New York, was sentenced today to 1 year of probation for misappropriating more than $17,000 from a federally funded program.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith; Douglas Shoemaker, Special Agent in Charge of the Northeast Regional Office of the United States Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General (USDOT-OIG); New York State Inspector General Letizia Tagliafierro; and Robert L. Keihm, Chief Investigator for the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) Investigations Bureau.

Lauzon, formerly an employee of the NYSDOT, was the Engineer in Charge of a $10.5 million road reconstruction project in Washington County, New York, from 2012 to 2017.  The Federal Highway Administration, a USDOT agency, provided 80 percent of the funding for the contract. 

In pleading guilty, Lauzon admitted that employees of the project contractor purchased more than $17,000 in goods and services for Lauzon’s personal use, and Lauzon unlawfully reimbursed the contractor for these purchases using project funds.  These goods and services included more than $2,500 worth of repairs to Lauzon’s personal car, a home entertainment surround sound system, a laptop computer, a computer monitor, a printer, lumber for a treehouse, a paint sprayer, a lawnmower, a snowblower, and a power washer. Lauzon previously paid restitution to New York State as part of a related case brought in Albany City Court.

This case was investigated by USDOT-OIG, NYSDOT’s Investigations Bureau, and the Office of the New York State Inspector General, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett.

Updated September 11, 2019

Topics
Financial Fraud
Public Corruption