ALBUQUERQUE (AP) A contractor has pleaded guilty to theft of government property in a bid-rigging scheme with his father-in-law, a U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs contracting officer.
Anthony Dohi, in entering his plea Feb. 18 in federal court in Albuquerque, admitted stealing $48,681.
Dohi, 30, of Mesa, AZ, said the total losses in the scheme were $242,036.
Several other charges are to be dismissed as part of a plea deal.
Dohi’s father-in-law is Stephen Calvin, who was chief contracts administrator for the BIA’s Southwest region in Albuquerque until he resigned in November 2000 under the threat of being fired.
Calvin on Feb. 4 was sentenced to 18 months in prison and was ordered to pay more than $240,000 in restitution for his role in the scheme. He pleaded guilty last Oct. 2 to charges of mail fraud.
Calvin, of Scottsdale, AZ, illegally leaked bidding information on at least four BIA construction contracts, including two at Tesuque and Picuris pueblos in New Mexico, to Dohi’s company, authorities said.
Calvin also admitted forging bid bonds, payment bonds and performance bonds for Dohi Industries to submit to the BIA because the company lacked the experience and financial ability to secure bonds from legitimate brokers.
Dohi’s attorney said Dohi believed the bonds were legitimate.
Dohi said Tuesday he took an advance payment check, knowing Calvin was his father-in-law.
”I did take a contract I know I didn’t bid for and ... I didn’t understand the aspects of the work,’ Dohi told U.S. District Judge C. LeRoy Hansen.
Calvin, dissatisfied with the standard of living his daughter had with Dohi, rigged the bidding process in Dohi’s favor, said Susan Dunleavy, Dohi’s attorney.
Calvin admitted during his plea hearing in October that he manipulated bidding on a $75,000 contract Dohi received to build a diversion dam at Tesuque Pueblo.
Dohi’s company did not do the work because Dohi had no experience in major construction, court records said. Dohi instead subcontracted the work to BNL Construction of Bosque Farms, which halted work after several Dohi payment checks bounced.
The BIA contracted with Dohi Industries to build a bridge at Picuris for $396,000, but the company did not do the work. Dohi subcontracted the project to Puma Construction of Albuquerque, which stopped working because Dohi did not pay, court records said.
Authorities then discovered structural deficiencies, requiring the BIA to spend $62,000 to demolish the unfinished overpass beforehiring a new contractor.
The BIA’s final tab for the Picuris project was about $1 million
