SHREVEPORT, La. - United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that a Florida woman was sentenced to 24 months in prison for mail fraud in connection with a bribery scheme involving a former staff member at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC).
Rita M. Myler, 53, of Miramar Beach, Fla., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. on one count of mail fraud. She was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $531,976.90 in restitution. According to the October 6, 2014, guilty plea, Myler paid kickbacks to LSUHSC’s Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) Laboratory Assistant Director Anthony Roggero so that he would continue buying products from her company, Sangre Biologicals. The kickbacks were mailed to Roggero’s house from July 2001 to July 2008. Sangre Biologicals received more than $500,000 from LSUHSC during the course of the scheme. The HLA laboratory played a critical support role for solid organ and bone marrow transplants.
Roggero, of Shreveport, pleaded guilty on Oct. 31, 2012, to one count of mail fraud for his role in the scheme. He was sentenced on Nov. 10, 2014, to 18 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $200,000 restitution.
The FBI conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cytheria D. Jernigan prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
