Crooks send themselves to jail.

["Just Looking" <nospam@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Isn't it great when the crooks send themselves to jail? These guys screwed
us out of one great contract. Sort of like the line in "How Does It Feel?"
by Bob Dylan  where he says "After he took from you everything he could
steal". Now the shoe is on the other foot. I keep hearing that same song in
my head, and now I just smile and wonder if I can send a copy of the song to
the bums to listen to while they're in prison (and maybe getting gang
raped?).
Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

http://www.pubklaw.com/papers/pfa66.pdf

Conspiracy to Commit Fraud (MEDCOM). On 6 June 2007, the Army SDO suspended
Ignacio Rules Torres, Francisco Quinata Cruz, Sr., William John Strout, Sr.,
William John Strout, Jr., Johnnie Flores, Andrew Delancey Waring II,
Enterprise Consulting, PRO-ECA, Inc., Torres Services Incorporated, TSI
Telecommunications Services, Sphinx Consultant and Associates (d/b/a SC&A,
Inc.), and Government Resource Group from contracting with the Government.
The parties were indicted on 17 May 2007, in the United States District
Court, Western District of Texas, and charged with: conspiracy; bribery;
receipt of kickbacks in public contracts; wire fraud; violating the
Procurement Integrity Act; income tax fraud; and engaging in monetary
transactions with criminally- derived property, based on allegations that
they conspired to fraudulently
award multiple Government contracts for computer cable upgrades at various
MEDCOM facilities. (Mr. Persico)

Four suspects set to plead in Fort Sam bid-rigging case
Web Posted: 09/19/2007 11:52 PM CDT
Guillermo Contreras
Express-News Staff Writer
Four of six men charged with participating in a scheme to rig $79 million in
contracts at the U.S. Army Medical Command at Fort Sam Houston have agreed
to plead guilty to bribery-related charges, go to prison and pay a total of
$2.7 million in restitution.
Rather than go to trial and risk prison sentences of up to 25 years, the
four accepted plea offers that would cap their prison sentences at seven
years.
Two others charged have not accepted plea deals but are expected to soon.
Among those who accepted the deals are two former insiders at the Army
Medical Command, or MEDCOM, William John "Bill" Strout Sr. and Ignacio
"Nacho" Ruelas Torres. They agreed to plead guilty to accepting a bribe by a
public official, which is punishable by a maximum of 15 years. Each agreed
to seven years in prison. Torres also agreed to give up his interest in four
properties investigators allege had connections to "dirty" money from the
graft.
Strout, 57, of San Antonio, was a contracting officer technical
representative for the U.S. Army Medical Information Technology Center, or
USAMITC, a division of MEDCOM. Torres, 53, of Windcrest, was a private
contract employee assigned at the time to MEDCOM.
They admitted using their positions to manipulate and steer contracts for
computer equipment and technology for the Army - such as computer cable
upgrades - to companies they controlled or were aligned with.
Most of the contracts were awarded between 2002 and 2005 for
computer-related work, equipment or services at nearly 20 Army hospitals,
including Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston and Darnall Army
Medical Center at Fort Hood.
The case is unrelated to that of Fort Sam Maj. John Cockerham, who was
indicted last month along with his wife, Melissa, and his sister Carolyn
Blake on charges that they accepted up to $9.6 million in bribes for Defense
Department contracts in Iraq and Kuwait.
Also agreeing to plead guilty in the MEDCOM case are Strout's son William
John "Will" Strout Jr., and Johnnie Flores, president and CEO of Sphinx
Consultants & Associates.
Flores was named Businessman of the Year in 2003 by the National Republican
Congressional Committee Business Advisory Council, and his firm once was
listed as one of the fastest-growing among Hispanic-owned businesses.
Strout Jr., 36, agreed to plead guilty to aiding and abetting bribery and
possessing child pornography. The porn charge resulted from a search of his
computer in the course of the contracting investigation. His sentence will
be 66 months.
Flores, 47, will plead guilty to bribery, although his lawyer, Bernie
Martinez, said what Flores actually did was conspire with the others. His
sentence will be 62 months.
"Johnnie was never the person that was paying or receiving bribes," Martinez
said. "Unfortunately, he allowed his company to be used as a conduit by
these guys who were doing the bid rigging. He never engaged in the bribes or
kickbacks that these guys did."
The four with deals are scheduled to formally enter their pleas in federal
court Sept. 28 or the following week.
Francisco "Frank" Quinata Cruz, a San Antonio contractor/consultant whose
business centered on MEDCOM, and Andrew "Andy" Delancey Waring II, 58, a
former civilian contract employee assigned to the Video Teleconferencing
Network at USAMITC, remain the two lone defendants scheduled for trial on
Nov. 5.
Cruz's lawyers, Louis Correa and Robert Featherston, have said Cruz, 59,
believes he's done nothing wrong, defrauded no one, "performed the contracts
in a workmanlike and quality manner," saved the government money and added
that there were no bribes involved.
Waring's lawyer could not be reached for comment.
The indictment filed in May against the six alleged they gained roughly $3.6
million total in profits by tainting contracts through methods that took
advantage of laws that give minority-owned and small disadvantaged
businesses a leg up on other contractors.
Those companies, which were referred to as pass-throughs, allegedly would
get a cut - generally 3 percent to 5 percent of the value of the contract -
while the work was actually completed by companies aligned with the
defendants.
The affidavits name 15 companies whose contracts were being scrutinized by
investigators. Several of them were controlled by Cruz, court records
allege.
Search warrant affidavits in the case identified other people as helping
facilitate the schemes, but none has been charged. Some of the contracts
were steered through a Department of Interior employee, for example, who was
favorable to Strout Sr. so as not to draw the Army's attention to MEDCOM,
the affidavits said.
Much of the damaging evidence that forced the deals came from 150
conversations secretly recorded for agents by a cooperating witness at
several meetings where illicit activity about contracts purportedly was
discussed by four of the men. Other conversations were captured by a
court-approved bug planted at Sphinx's offices in Northeast San Antonio.
Investigators alleged that the group structured contracts in a variety of
ways that would benefit the suspects. For instance, single-source contracts
were narrowly tailored so that only the handpicked companies could get them.
Also, bids allegedly were falsified so that it seemed companies were
competing with each other to get a job. In reality, the companies worked
together so no matter who got it, the insiders still made money, according
to court documents.
Court records allege $19 million in contracts had already been tainted when
agents moved in before they could profit from a $50 million contract that
was to be passed through a Native American-owned company in Oklahoma.
One minority-owned company, Sphinx, clearly profited.
A Hispanic Business story in 2003 said Sphinx reported revenues of $6,000
when it formed in 1998. By 2002, the company reported revenues of $7
million, a five-year growth of 116,566 percent. The dramatic increase put
Sphinx at the top of the "2003 Hispanic Business Fastest-Growing 100."
Martinez said Flores continues finishing off contract jobs that had nothing
to do with the case and is trying to start another business to help support
his family.
But he won't be doing work for the federal government. He along with the
five others and seven companies affiliated with them are suspended
indefinitely from doing business with the feds, a review of the government's
databases shows.