×
X logo

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox.

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

You may opt-out anytime by clicking "unsubscribe" from the newsletter or from your account.

Amid Corruption Probe, Second Jobs Are Eyed

CHARLESTON (AP) — Amid a federal corruption probe, the West Virginia Department of Transportation is cracking down on highway engineers who have second jobs with private firms that pose a conflict of interest.

The department has ordered employees to disclose by Dec. 16 if they’ve been moonlighting with outside companies. Officials will then determine if the second jobs either pose a conflict of interest or if they are being done on state time.

The new measures come after multiple people, including an executive at a highway contracting business and a professor who works at Marshall University’s Rahall Appalachian Transportation Institute, were charged last month in a kickback scheme involving companies in South Carolina and Putnam County.

About $1.5 million worth of Division of Highways projects were illegally diverted to Dennis Corp., a South Carolina engineering consulting firm, prosecutors said. DOH engineers received $200,000 in bribes between 2008 and 2013, according to the charges.

Two former DOH engineers embroiled in the scandal — Bruce E. Kenney II and James Travis Miller — simultaneously worked for companies that held state contracts, according to prosecutors. Also charged are highway electrical contracting firm owner Mark Whitt, and Marshall professor Andrew P. Nichols.

“We see exactly what happens with these most recent indictments, if (engineers) don’t listen to the legal division, if they don’t take the division’s advice, they ultimately get indicted, and nobody wants that,” DOH lawyer Michael Folio told lawmakers Tuesday during a legislative committee meeting in Charleston.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today