ALBANY, NEW YORK - Jerome Lauzon, age 45, of Gansevoort, New York, was sentenced today to 1 year of probation for misappropriating more than $17,000 from a federally funded program.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith; Douglas Shoemaker, Special Agent in Charge of the Northeast Regional Office of the United States Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General (USDOT-OIG); New York State Inspector General Letizia Tagliafierro; and Robert L. Keihm, Chief Investigator for the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) Investigations Bureau.
Lauzon, formerly an employee of the NYSDOT, was the Engineer in Charge of a $10.5 million road reconstruction project in Washington County, New York, from 2012 to 2017. The Federal Highway Administration, a USDOT agency, provided 80 percent of the funding for the contract.
In pleading guilty, Lauzon admitted that employees of the project contractor purchased more than $17,000 in goods and services for Lauzon’s personal use, and Lauzon unlawfully reimbursed the contractor for these purchases using project funds. These goods and services included more than $2,500 worth of repairs to Lauzon’s personal car, a home entertainment surround sound system, a laptop computer, a computer monitor, a printer, lumber for a treehouse, a paint sprayer, a lawnmower, a snowblower, and a power washer. Lauzon previously paid restitution to New York State as part of a related case brought in Albany City Court.
This case was investigated by USDOT-OIG, NYSDOT’s Investigations Bureau, and the Office of the New York State Inspector General, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
