DALLAS (CN) - The former CEO of the National Center for the Employment of the Disabled pleaded guilty to embezzling millions of dollars in government funds and conspiring to deprive the community of the honest services of elected officials.
Robert Edward Jones, 63, El Paso, admitted he embezzled money for 3 years, and that he lied to the Committee for Purchase from the Blind and Severely Disabled.
"By doing so, Jones fraudulently secured no-bid contracts from government agencies - contracts which are set aside for not-for-profit organizations who employ blind or other severely handicapped individuals to perform at least 75 percent of the work on the government contracts," prosecutors said in a statement.
The NCED did not employ sufficient numbers of blind or severely disabled workers to qualify for the contracts, according to a superseding indictment.
Jones admitted that in 2003, he knowingly failed to report $1 million in income the Jones Family Trust. He admitted paying cash and other bribes in the form of campaign contributions and gratuities to secure vendor contracts between Access Healthsource and the County of El Paso and several local school districts.Jones pleaded guilty to six federal counts: two counts of conspiracy to commit theft or embezzlement of federal program funds, one count of conspiracy to make false statements and to defraud the United States, one count of making a false statement to a financial institution, one count of aiding and abetting in the preparation of a false tax return and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and the deprivation of honest services.
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