Montco PennDOT Contractor Pleads Guilty in Multimillion Fraud Scheme

Montgomery County business owner Christopher Czop orchestrated a bid-rigging scheme that defrauded taxpayers of millions.

A Montgomery County contractor for PennDOT has pleaded guilty to corruption and fraud in a bid rigging scheme that resulted in the loss of millions of taxpayer dollars, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office announced Wednesday.

Criminal counts were filed against Christopher M. Czop, 47, of Upper Providence in April of 2015 for allegedly using his role as president of a Norrisotwn engineering company to secure more than $1 million in profits for his business through improper and illegal contracts with the PennDOT.

The charges against are the result of an ongoing investigation into alleged corruption and fraud involving PennDOT District 6, which includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.

Czop is president and principal operating officer of CZOP Specter, Inc. The charges against him were recommended by a statewide investigating grand jury, which found Czop engaged in criminal conduct in obtaining and executing several consultant inspection contracts with PennDOT’s District 6.

Testimony before the grand jury said Czop took steps to cultivate a relationship with District 6’s Assistant District Engineer (ADE), who awarded contracts for PennDOT. The ADE was unnamed in the grand jury presentment.

According to the Attorney General’s Office, the evidence showed that Czop entered into an agreement with a close personal friend of the ADE, which was purportedly a consulting contract. In reality, however, the agreement was simply a method to secure contracts from the ADE, the grand jury presentment alleged.

CZOP Specter, Inc. and a related minority business sent more than $130,000 to the ADE’s friend, which, in turn, resulted in Czop being awarded at least four separate PennDOT consultant contracts, according to the indictment. It was also alleged that Czop, after obtaining the contracts, placed individuals on his payroll on those contracts as personal favors to the ADE and other PennDOT supervisors.

Some of those individuals were allegedly unqualified for the positions that Czop gave them. It is also alleged that Czop fired individuals from his payroll at the request or direction of the ADE.

The charges are related to the arrest of 10 individuals in December for their alleged roles in a widespread overbilling scheme involving PennDOT District 6 defrauded at least $1.2 million from Pennsylvania taxpayers.

That followed the arrest four months earlier of PennDOT contractor, Thanh Nguyen, for allegedly stealing at least $3.6 million by submitting false invoices. Nguyen also bribed a CZOP inspector, Robert Slamon, to ignore his own fraud, according to a grand jury presentment.

Anyone with information regarding potential corruption in PennDOT District 6 is encouraged to contact the Attorney General's office in Norristown at 610-631-6208.

Source: Patch.com