Frank DeCarlo, a former supervisory carpenter for the Department of Public Works of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, was sentenced to nine months imprisonment on Friday for allegedly accepting bribes as a public official.
In addition to imprisonment, DeCarlo, 67, will need to pay a $10,000 fine and forfeit $48,000 for the funds he illegally received, prosecutors said.
DeCarlo could have faced between 30 and 37 months in prison, Newsday reported, but Brian Griffin, a Garden City-based attorney representing DeCarlo, had asked U.S. District Judge Arthur D. Spatt to be lenient in his sentencing and take both his poor health and military service in Vietnam into account.
DeCarlo solicited and submitted fake bids on contracts to try awarding maintenance and repair contracts to contractors who paid him between 2003 and 2016, according to court records.
He originally pled guilt to the charges on April 20, 2017.
“DeCarlo’s solicitation of bribes in exchange for the awarding of contracts compromised the integrity of the procurement system,” Bridget M. Rohde, acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. “This Office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to vigorously investigate and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those corrupt public employees who abuse their positions for their own enrichment.”
This sentencing comes on the heels of the sentencing of John McCormick, 60, another member of the Department of Public Works of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy who solicited $150,000 worth of bribes, according to prosecutors.
McCormick was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay both $78,000 for funds he illegally received and pay a $10,000 fine.
There is also an ongoing larger investigation into the Merchant Marine Academy’s employees and contractors, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
