On Monday, it was announced that a resident of Eighty-Four, Pennsylvania had pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to defraud the United States. 78-year-old Donald R. Taylor pleaded guilty to a single count before U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer.
Taylor was the owner of Century Steel Erectors. The defendant admitted to conspiring with Watson L. Maloy Jr. to use Maloy’s company, W.M.C.C. Inc. as a front company in hopes of illegally obtaining federally funded subcontracts on Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission bridge projects.
Since Century Steel Erectors was not a certified disadvantaged business enterprise subcontractor, Maloy and Taylor agreed to use WMCC to obtained DBE-eligible bridge subcontracts. The defendants ignored DBE requirements and Taylor admitted that CSE employees actually identified, bid, negotiated and performed work on DBE-eligible subcontracts at his direction.
The defendant attempted to hide the criminal behavior by allowing CSE employees to use a WMCC email account and phone line. They also used magnetic WMCC signs to cover CSE logos on company vehicles. Taylor admitted that CSE and WMCC fraudulently acquired nine PennDOT subcontractors from January 2012 to February 2014.
The subcontracts resulted in payments totaling roughly $1,065,000 to be made to WMCC. Taylor confirmed that Maloy was paid a periodic fee between $2,000 and $10,000 during the conspiracy. Taylor had agreed to pay restitution of $85,221.21 to PennDOT. Donald R. Taylor is now scheduled to be sentenced on March 9, 2018. He will face a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Maloy pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to defraud the United States on November 12, 2014. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 23, 2018. Additional details can be found here.