Delaware executive sentenced in bribery, contract steering case investigated by Amtrak OIG

PHILADELPHIA – An executive from a small, Delaware-based manufacturing firm was sentenced Monday for his role in bribing an Amtrak contract administrator in exchange for awarding the firm with millions of dollars in Amtrak seat-cushion contracts.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Donald Scott Crothers, 45, of Milford, Delaware, was sentenced to 18 months’ incarceration and three years’ supervised release for federal program bribery. Crothers served as the firm’s vice president for marketing and contract administration.

Crothers and co-conspirator John Gonzalez, the former chief financial officer and executive vice president for the firm, bribed Timothy Miller, a former Lead Contract Administrator for Amtrak, with approximately $20,000 in cash and trips to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. In turn, Miller steered four fleet maintenance contracts to their firm. Miller was sentenced to a year and one day incarceration for federal program bribery in January while Gonzalez’s sentencing will occur at a later date.

“This sentencing highlights our commitment to ensuring Amtrak’s contracting process remains free from criminal activity,” said Kevin Winters, Amtrak’s Inspector General. “We appreciate the seamless collaboration with the U.S. Attorney's Office as well as the sustained professionalism exhibited by our investigative staff and partner agencies in getting to this result.”

In addition to the Amtrak Office of Inspector General, the case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U. S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, and the Internal Revenue Service, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Eric Gibson.

More information is available in the U.S. Attorney’s Office press release: http://go.usa.gov/xyfA6