Thursday, January 29, 2015

Former Kentucky Judge-Executive Sentenced to Prison for Tornado Kickback Scheme

Former Kentucky Judge-Executive Sentenced to Prison for Tornado Kickback Scheme


LEXINGTON, Ky. (WSAZ) -- Former Morgan County Judge-Executive Tim Conley was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison in connection with a kickback scheme.

In August, Conley admitted that between 2009 and 2013, he rigged the county's competitive bidding process to ensure contracts for certain Morgan County bridges were awarded to PBTHNOJJ Construction, of Salyersville. 


Conley admitted that as part of the scheme, he directed the owners, Kenneth and Ruth Gambill, to deliver kickbacks to him from the proceeds of the contracts given to PBTHNOJJ.

In 2013, following a tornado that ravaged the area, Conley secretly altered bid documents for three bridges to ensure the company would get the contracts. He solicited $15,000 per bridge and accepted $45,000 after the construction was done, according to the US Attorney's Office.


According to the plea agreement, the kickbacks were part of a scheme to defraud citizens of Morgan County of their right to Conley's honest services. 


Conley must serve at least 85% of the 87-month sentence. He also has to pay $104,000 in restitution to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and $26,000 to Morgan County. He will start serving his sentence in March.


“Mr. Conley's reprehensible scheme betrayed the trust placed in him by the people of Morgan County,” said Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. 
“He transformed his high public office into a criminal enterprise designed to line his pockets, at the expense of the citizens who elected him. The sentence imposed is an appropriate punishment for a man who so thoroughly abused the public trust, at a time when his community most needed honest leadership. Our office and our law enforcement partners will continue to use every tool available to fight public corruption in our district.”


The Gambills have pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme. They were both sentenced to four months of home detention, with two years probation. 


Stanley Franklin defeated Conley in the 2014 General Election.


ORIGINAL STORY 1/27/15 @ 8:11 a.m.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Morgan County's judge-executive goes before a federal judge Tuesday for sentencing in a corruption case that prosecutors say continued as the area struggled to rebuild from a deadly tornado. 

Judge-Executive Tim Conley pleaded guilty in August to a fraud charge stemming from a kickback scheme.


Prosecutors said he received $120,000 to $200,000 to steer work to a contractor.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew T. Boone has asked that Conley be sentenced to 11 years and four months, even though the top sentence under federal advisory guidelines would be seven years and three months. 


Defense attorneys have asked instead for a sentence below the guidelines' minimum.

The March 2, 2012, tornado killed six people in Morgan County, among 25 who died in an outbreak of twisters statewide.