You're the judge

Defense AT&L, Jan-Feb, 2008

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil

The cast of characters: Michael Rzeplinski served as a programs director for the General Services Administration and as a supervisory engineer for the U.S. Army. Connie Davidson was a GSA employee who lived with Rzeplinski. Kirsten Davidson is Connie's daughter.

Rzeplinski recommended that a GSA IT-related services task order be awarded to PCC Technology Group, Inc. He asked PCC Technology Group to hire Kirsten to perform computer-related work under his direction. Connie Davidson was appointed to be the assistant contracting officer's representative on the task order awarded to PCC.

The company did hire Kirsten, but she performed no work. Between January 2003 and October 2005, PCC was paid approximately $555,710 on this contract and on a separate GSA contract as a subcontractor for work that Kirsten never performed.

Rzeplinski caused PCC to hire a company called RZED Engineering Services (ZED) as a subcontractor. ZED was a sole proprietorship controlled by Rzeplinski. From June 2002 to October 2005, PCC mailed monthly checks in the amounts of $4,000 to $4,500 to Rzeplinski, who received a total of $151,500; however, ZED never performed any work as a subcontractor.

If, like Sgt. Schultz in the TV series Hogan's Heroes, whose refrain was "I see nothing," you turn your back on a crime, do you get a free pass when the crime is discovered? Is there a crime involved if you do not perform any work?

Clearly Rzeplinski violated several laws, and he was sentenced to 46 months in prison and ordered to pay $862,710 in restitution.

Did Connie Davidson (assigned as assistant contracting officer's representative, whose duties include verifying vouchers) and Kirsten Davidson (who received payment but did not actually perform any work) commit any crimes?

Connie Davidson admitted to federal officials that in her capacity as a GSA employee, she was aware that Rzeplinski had recommended the award of the task order to PCC and that he intended to have PCC hire her daughter Kirsten to perform work on the contract. Connie Davidson also knew that PCC was paying her daughter and that her daughter did not perform any work for PCC. For her failure to act, Connie Davidson was found guilty of aiding and abetting the submission of false claims. She was sentenced to 12 months in prison and ordered to pay $395,710 in restitution.

As part of the billing process, contractors submit time sheets with the number of hours worked by each employee. In this case, Kirsten claimed hours without actually performing any work. She was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the United States by making false claims and was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $290,647 in restitution.

(United States v. Michael Rzeplinski; United States v. Connie Davidson; and United States v. Kirsten Davidson.)