FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2004 WWW.USDOJ.GOV CRM (202) 514-2008 TDD (202) 514-1888 WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Christopher Wray of the Criminal Division, Thomas Kneir, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office of the FBI, and Harvey G. Florian, General Services Administration Regional Inspector General, announced that former GSA contractor Terrence Kulick was sentenced to 15 months in prison and three years supervised release for his role in a bribery scheme involving the awarding of GSA contracts at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago, Illinois.
Kulick was sentenced by the Honorable Rebecca R. Pallmeyer, at federal court in Chicago. Kulick was ordered to pay a $3,000 fine and $7,000 in restitution.
Kulick had previously pled guilty to bribery and admitted that he provided plumbing supplies, including copper pipes and toilets, a furnace and a central air-conditioning unit, to a GSA supervisor in exchange for favorable treatment in the award of GSA contracts. The supervisor would typically direct Kulick to falsely bill the supplies to GSA as valves, an item routinely purchased by GSA.
The GSA contracts case resulted from a five-year undercover investigation in which numerous consensual recordings were made of GSA officials and contractors by cooperating GSA employees. The investigation is continuing.
Sixteen defendants have been charged to date in the investigation, and Kulick is the third to be sentenced. The other guilty pleas to date include: * Scott Arias, a GSA contractor; * Charles Funke, a GSA contractor; * Merritt Pulkrabek, a former court security officer who worked at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse; * Jerry Taylor, a former GSA supervisor; * Theresa Pitt, a former FBI typist; * Carolyn Pease, a GSA contractor; * James Kramer, a former GSA supervisor; * Scott Bravos, a GSA contractor; * John Gibson, a GSA contractor; and * James Barratt, a GSA contractor.
The two defendant previously sentenced are: * Arthur Orr, a former GSA pipefitter; and * Barry Lewinson, a GSA contractor; The other defendants charged in the investigation are: * Glenn Hardy, a former GSA mechanical supervisor who had responsibility in the selection of contractors for the awarding of GSA supplies and services contracts in the courthouse; * Raletta Ingram, a former GSA supervisor; and * Gerasimos Valsamis, a former GSA contractor.
The prosecution is being handled by Trial Attorneys Alison Van Horn and Peter Zeidenberg of the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., headed by Noel L. Hillman, Chief, with the assistance of Assistant United States Attorney Dean Polales of the United States Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Illinois; the remainder of the United States Attorneys Office is recused from this investigation. The investigation is being conducted jointly by the Chicago Field Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Chicago Zone Investigations Office of the General Services Administration Office of Inspector General. U.S. Marshal Kim R. Widup and the Marshals Service in Chicago also cooperated in the investigation. 04-031
Source: US Department of Justice
