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A 65-year-old Army range director pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to bribing government contracting officials to steer federal contracts worth $19 million to his employer, a government contractor.
John Winslett of Bristol, R.I., admitted he accepted $723,333.33 in kickbacks from a local subcontractor in exchange for his assigning those contracts to that local subcontractor, a U.S. Attorney’s office news release said.
He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to accept kickbacks in connection with a U.S. government contract.
Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 16 before Chief U.S. District Judge John Seabright.
Court documents and information presented in court show Winslett paid more than $100,000 worth of bribes from 2011 to 2018 to two U.S. Army contracting officials who worked at the Schofield Barracks range.
Cash, automobiles and firearms were included in the bribes.
Winslett also arranged for Franklin Raby, one of the contracting officials, to get a job with his employer, after he retired from his Department of Defense job. Raby pleaded guilty to receiving bribes.
The other official, Victor Garo, is scheduled to plead guilty in October to charges of receiving bribes.
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