United States v. Gary L. White

Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit·Decided November 29, 2011·No. 10-13654·Published

Opinion

[PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT U.S. COURT OF APPEALS ________________________ ELEVENTH CIRCUIT NOVEMBER 29, 2011

No. 10-13654 JOHN LEY ________________________ CLERK

D.C. Docket No. 7:07-cr-00448-LSC-HGD-1

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, llllllllllllllllllll lPlaintiff - Appellee, versus

GARY L. WHITE, lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama

(November 29, 2011)

Before TJOFLAT and CARNES, Circuit Judges, and MICKLE,* District Judge.

*

Honorable Stephan P. Mickle, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Florida, sitting by designation.

CARNES, Circuit Judge:

“Kleptocracy” is a term used to describe “[a] government characterized by rampant greed and corruption.” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 968 (4th ed. 2000); see also New Oxford American Dictionary 963 (3d ed. 2010); Random House Webster’s College Dictionary 724 (2d ed. 1998). To that definition dictionaries might add, as a helpful illustration: “See, for example, Alabama’s Jefferson County Commission in the period from 1998 to 2008.” During those years, five members or former members of the commission that governs Alabama’s most populous county committed crimes involving their “service” in office for which they were later convicted in federal court. And the commission has only five members. One of those five former commissioners who was convicted did not appeal.1 We have affirmed the convictions of three others who did.2 This is the appeal of the fifth one.

1 Judgment, United States v. Buckelew, No. CR 08-J-357-S (N.D. Ala. Nov. 20, 2009)

(Mary Buckelew’s conviction for obstructing an official proceeding).

2 See United States v. Langford, 647 F.3d 1309 (11th Cir. 2011) (Larry Langford’s convictions for bribery, conspiracy, money laundering, mail fraud, wire fraud, tax fraud, and criminal forfeiture); United States v. McNair, 605 F.3d 1152 (11th Cir. 2010) (Chris McNair’s convictions for conspiracy and bribery); United States v. Germany, 296 F. App’x 852 (11th Cir. 2008) (Jeff Germany’s convictions for conspiracy and misapplication of government funds).

Another former member of the county commission was convicted in federal court for stealing money that the county, among others, gave to a charity he ran ostensibly to help underprivileged children. See United States v. Katopodis, 428 F. App’x 902 (11th Cir. 2011) (John Katopodis’ convictions for mail fraud and wire fraud). Even though he committed those

I.

Jefferson County consists of five districts, each represented by an elected commissioner who serves as the head of a county department. Gary White was elected as a Jefferson County commissioner for four four-year terms beginning in 1990. He held different positions at various times, including president of the commission and head of its General Services Department and of its Road and Transportation Department. So far as the record shows, however, it was not until White became the commissioner in charge of the Environmental Services Department in November 2002 that his corrupt conduct commenced.

His corruption, like that of some of his fellow commissioners, grew out of the county’s sewage problem. In 1996 Jefferson County and the United States Environmental Protection Agency entered into a consent decree, settling a Clean Water Act lawsuit over untreated waste being released into the county’s rivers and streams. The consent decree required the county to fix its sewer system, which was a mess. The cost of doing so was approximately $3 billion.

The county hired engineering firms to design the necessary repair-and-

renovation projects. The Environmental Services Department supervised the

crimes between 2001 and 2008, we have not counted him in the tally of convicted former commissioners because he left office in 1990.

process of hiring those engineering firms. The design contracts were let on a no- bid basis, so typically either a commissioner or staff member selected the firm that would receive the contract. The staff then determined the scope of the work under the contract and negotiated pricing with the contractor. After the staff and the engineering firm agreed on the contract’s terms, it would go to the director of the Environmental Services Department for approval and then to the county commissioner in charge of the department. If the commissioner approved the contract, it then went to the environmental services committee, which consisted of that commissioner and two others. They would decide whether to send the contract to the full commission, consisting of the three of them and the two other commissioners, for final approval.

The sewer system reconstruction project was lucrative for U.S.

Infrastructure, an engineering firm owned by Sohan Singh. From 1996 to 2005, Singh’s company and Jefferson County entered into approximately $50 million worth of contracts involving the sewer system work. Each contract required the county to pay U.S. Infrastructure for its expenses in performing the work plus a professional fee.

In getting contracts with Jefferson County, U.S. Infrastructure had a competitive advantage — bribes that Singh and others paid. Singh and Edward

Key, who was a U.S. Infrastructure vice president, began bribing the county’s officials in 1999 in exchange for contracts. See United States v. U.S. Infrastructure, Inc., 576 F.3d 1195, 1202–03 (11th Cir. 2009). One of the officials who was bribed was Chris McNair, a former commissioner in charge of the Environmental Services Department.3 Id. at 1203–06.

When White took over the duties of supervising the Environmental Services Department in November 2002, Singh did not want to squander the competitive advantage his company had gained by bribing McNair. So, Singh began meeting with White in 2003 and continued doing so through early 2005, which roughly coincided with the period White supervised the Environmental Services Department. At their meetings Singh gave White stacks of $100 bills in envelopes, with the amounts ranging from $1,000 to $4,000 each time. All told, Singh paid White at least $22,000 in cash between 2003 and 2005. Singh got what he paid for. From April 2003 to January 2005, while White was in charge of the Environmental Services Department, the county entered into 48 new contracts with U.S. Infrastructure, paying the firm $1,107,755.55 in professional fees.

3 McNair was not the only “public servant” convicted of corruption charges in connection with the sewer system contracts. Among the others were the Environmental Services Department’s former director, its former assistant director, its former chief civil engineer, its former chief construction maintenance supervisor, one of its former engineers, and one of its former maintenance supervisors. See United States v. McNair, 605 F.3d 1152 (11th Cir. 2011).

A federal grand jury issued a superseding indictment that charged White with one count of conspiracy in violation 18 U.S.C. § 371 (Count 1), alleging that he conspired with Singh to commit federal-funds bribery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)–(b), and with eight substantive counts of federal-funds bribery (Counts 2–9) for his acceptance of Singh’s cash. It also charged White with one count of conspiracy (Count 10) and one count of federal-funds bribery (Count 11) for his acceptance of free architectural plans and hunting trips from an architect whose firm had entered into contracts with Jefferson County. Finally, the indictment included a forfeiture count (Count 12). See 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(C); 28 U.S.C. § 2461(c).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

United States v. Gary L. White, (11th Cir. 2011).

United States v. Gary L. White (United States v. Gary L. White) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

United States v. Jeff Germany
296 F. App'x 852 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Ira Harvey Liss
265 F.3d 1220 (Eleventh Circuit, 2001)
United States v. Luis Enrique Polar
369 F.3d 1248 (Eleventh Circuit, 2004)
United States v. John Kevin Talley
431 F.3d 784 (Eleventh Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Tracey Dudley
463 F.3d 1221 (Eleventh Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Pugh
515 F.3d 1179 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Gonzalez
550 F.3d 1319 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Seher
562 F.3d 1344 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Shaw
560 F.3d 1230 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
United States v. US Infrastructure, Inc.
576 F.3d 1195 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
United States v. White
590 F.3d 1210 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Booker
543 U.S. 220 (Supreme Court, 2004)
United States v. McNair
605 F.3d 1152 (Eleventh Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Irey
612 F.3d 1160 (Eleventh Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Don Eugene Siegelman
640 F.3d 1159 (Eleventh Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Hill
643 F.3d 807 (Eleventh Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Langford
647 F.3d 1309 (Eleventh Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Thomas Reed
887 F.2d 1398 (Eleventh Circuit, 1989)
United States v. Seymour Sapoznik
161 F.3d 1117 (Seventh Circuit, 1998)
United States v. Paul Thomas Kinter
235 F.3d 192 (Fourth Circuit, 2000)