From: Subject: Contractor Sentenced in Bribery Scheme at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Separate Arson Insurance Fraud Scheme Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:33:06 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.justice.gov/usao/md/Public-Affairs/press_releases/press08/ContractorSentencedinBriberySchemeatWalterReedandSeparateInsuranceFraudScheme.html X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.5579 =EF=BB=BF Contractor Sentenced in Bribery Scheme at Walter Reed = Army Medical Center and Separate Arson Insurance Fraud Scheme

 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or

MARCIA MURPHY at = 410-209-4885  
January=20 11, 2010

FOR=20 IMMEDIATE=20 RELEASE                  = =20

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/md           &nbs= p;            = ;            =    =20

 

CONTRACTOR SENTENCED IN = BRIBERY SCHEME=20 AT
WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER AND
SEPARATE ARSON INSURANCE = FRAUD=20 SCHEME

Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge = Peter J.=20 Messitte sentenced Louis Pisani, Jr., age 44, of Silver Spring, = Maryland, today=20 to 46 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for = conspiracy to commit bribery and obstruction of an agency investigation, = arising=20 from a scheme to influence contracting at the Walter Reed Army Medical = Center;=20 and in a separate case, mail fraud in an arson insurance fraud scheme. = Judge=20 Messitte also ordered Pisani to pay a fine of $18,000 and entered a = restitution=20 order of $66,900 against him.

The sentence was announced by United States = Attorney=20 for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge = Richard=20 A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Brigadier General = Rodney L.=20 Johnson of the Army Criminal Investigation Command; Special Agent in = Charge C.=20 Andr=C3=A9 Martin of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal = Investigation; and=20 Montgomery County Fire Marshal Michael Love.

Pisani was sole shareholder of Platinum = Contractors,=20 Inc., located in Silver Spring and Hyattsville, Maryland. In addition, = Pisani=20 and Leon Krachyna were each 50% shareholders and corporate officers of = Home=20 Sweet Home Moving and Storage, Inc. located in Hyattsville.

According to Pisani=E2=80=99s plea = agreement, from about the=20 fall of 1999 until about February 2003, Pisani conspired with Krachyna = and Kevin=20 Roach, a civilian contract specialist with the U.S. Army Medical Command = responsible for helping to procure goods and services for Walter Reed, = to bribe=20 Roach to steer government contracts to Pisani=E2=80=99s companies, = including one=20 contract potentially worth up to $1.2 million. Pisani and Krachyna gave = Roach=20 10% of the contract proceeds in cash and checks, and also paid thousands = of=20 dollars in insurance premiums and loan payments on a truck they gave to = Roach.=20 In exchange, Roach gave Pisani and Krachyna confidential bidding = information and=20 his best efforts to cause the Army to award the contracts to their = companies.=20

In September 2002, the Army Criminal = Investigation=20 Division initiated an investigation into contracts secured by Pisani. = During an=20 interview by an Army investigator in April 2003, Pisani falsely denied = under=20 oath that he paid Roach money for contracts awarded to his company.

Finally, in June 2003, Pisani and a = co-schemer=20 purchased a residence on Edgefield Road in Bethesda, Maryland, intending = to turn=20 a lucrative profit by demolishing the residence, subdividing the lots = and using=20 the property for new residential construction to be re-sold. Pisani and = the=20 co-schemer purchased an insurance policy on the property. The policy=20 specifically excluded from coverage any loss caused intentionally by the = insured=20 or by a person directed by the insured. Pisani, the co-schemer and = Pisani=E2=80=99s=20 friend, Thomas Moriarty, discussed substantially damaging the residence = by fire=20 and then submitting a claim on the policy. Moriarty was asked to set = fire to the=20 house. On Friday evening, March 12, 2004, the co-schemer prepared the = residence=20 with highly flammable fuel and Moriarty set it on fire, substantially = damaging=20 the residence. Pisani arranged to have dinner that night with several = friends,=20 and his co-schemer traveled to New Jersey.

After being notified of the loss, the = insurance=20 company issued checks for $50,000 and $16,900, as an advance payment on = the loss=20 and for costs associated with temporary housing for Pisani and his = co-schemer.=20 When insurance company representatives and the Montgomery County Fire = Marshal=E2=80=99s=20 Office investigated the cause of the fire, Pisani and the co-schemer = tried to=20 conceal their involvement in the fire by persuading another person not = to reveal=20 information about the fire to the Montgomery County Fire = Marshal=E2=80=99s Office, and=20 providing false information to the insurance company and the Fire = Marshal=E2=80=99s=20 Office. Suspicious of the cause of the fire, the insurance company did = not pay=20 the balance of the claim.

Kevin R. Roach, age 48, of Fredericksburg, = Virginia,=20 pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. Army of his honest = services as=20 a public official. Roach was sentenced to 41 months in prison and = ordered to pay=20 a $3,000 fine. Thomas Patrick Moriarty, age 40, of Dickerson, Maryland, = pleaded=20 guilty to wire fraud in connection with the scheme to defraud the = insurance=20 company by setting fire to the Edgefield Road residence. Moriarty was = sentenced=20 to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $33,000. Leon = Krachyna,=20 age 41, of Rockville, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and = faces a=20 maximum sentence of five years in prison at his sentencing scheduled for = February 17, 2010 at 9:30 a.m.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein = thanked=20 Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael R. Pauz=C3=A9 and Steven M. Dunne, who = prosecuted=20 these cases.

 

 

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