Because of the simple fact that I spend most of my time on the road I don't pay enough attention to local stories.
This one's a little different though.
Not only were these two companies (if the crimes they're charged with turn out to be true) defrauding the government but it really pisses me off that they've been cheating the disabled American Veterans these government programs were set up to help in the first place.
No, I don't actually have a dog in this fight but I do have a brother that used to work for one of these two companies before he went out and started up his own company.
And I have a good friend in the construction business that always wondered how these two companies always seemed to be able to undercut and out bid the competition on just about every construction project that came along.
The following report comes straight from the KSNT website.
Local News
McPherson Contractors, Torgeson respond to $352 million ‘Rent-A-Vet' fraud scheme
Matt Torgeson and Matthew McPherson teamed up with others to fraudulently obtain government contracts set aside for minority and disabled military veteran contractors, prosecutors said in federal court documents obtained by KSNT News. The men are presidents of Torgeson Electric Company and McPherson Contractors, both decades old businesses based in Topeka.
Prosecutors said Torgeson and McPherson conspired with Michael Patrick Dingle, of Missouri, to create “Rent-A-Vet” and “Rent-A-Minority” companies to gain more than 60 fraudulent government contracts for their own benefit since 2009. None of the men are minorities or veterans.
Court documents claim the men used minority veterans to bid for and obtain the work through businesses named Zieson Construction Company and Simcon Corp, then passed the money through to themselves or their businesses.
Federal laws require a portion of federal contracts to be set aside for disadvantaged veterans and minorities, and minority and disabled veteran contractors are required to manage and control the day-to-day operations and long-term decisions for the business. The government said Dingle manages Zieson and Simcon.
“In order to disguise their involvement with Zieson and Simcon, Torgeson, McPherson and Dingle did not receive wages, but instead used their entities to acquire proceeds from these businesses to which they were not entitled,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said a third company, Onsite, was new to the scheme, and they anticipated it would be used in the same manner as Zieson and Simcon.
Mason Wilder, a research specialist for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners in Austin, Tex. said it's more common than you might think.
"There's a whole lot of opportunities to take advantage of those systems and it's something that happens all too frequently," he said.
A criminal investigation is being conducted into the scheme, according to court documents.
Matt Torgeson responded to our requests for comment by email, saying "We will continue to corporate (sic) with the (Department of Justice) and defend our position if necessary regarding this on going investigation."
A secretary at McPherson Contractors said Matthew McPherson was out of town and unavailable to comment. Bill Sims, the chief operating officer of McPherson Contractors told KSNT News, “McPherson is a company committed to serving our clients and community with the highest degree of honesty and integrity.” The statement went on to say, “We are working closely with authorities and are taking appropriate measures to aid them.”
KSNT News’ attempts to reach Dingle have been unsuccessful.
As far as chief operating officer Bill sims' statement goes:
If I were looking at the possibility of losing millions of dollars and possible prison time and thought It'd do any good, I'd probably work closely with authorities, too.
Obviously, no convictions have taken place but I suspect if you happen to be in the construction business and work for one of these two competitors you'll soon have more work than you ever imagined...
Just saying...
Kevin McGinty
Hell lost for words on this one my friend.
ReplyDeleteNo way!!!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, Sarge. I suspect there will be a young man stopping by with plenty to say about this particular issue...
But for now, Saturday's coming fast and I must get busy...
ReplyDeleteI hope you are Prepared. :):)
DeleteDefrauding the government? Why that's just unheard of! It's nearly impossible to defraud these people, they are so sharp and on top of everything. That's why we should trust them to run our lives, our healthcare and our businesses. Because they are so on top of it.
ReplyDeleteRight? Wrong. Defrauding the government is extremely lucrative as well as easy.
Remember when they bragged during the obamacare fraudulent sales pitch how Medicare only a very small portion of Medicare expense is used for "administrative functions". They tried to sell us on the idea that was a good thing, and if they forced private insurance companies to limit their "administrative functions" it would pass the savings on to us. Well, that, as usual was a crock of bullshit. Medicare has low administrative cost because the do virtually no oversight. I worked for a couple of years for a hospital chain that got filthy rich frauding Medicare because there was virtually no chance of getting caught. I left when I became aware of it and then realized just how bad it was. They never even tried to fraud private insurance because they would get caught every time. But it's common knowledge Medicare is a giant money pot and you can help yourself.
That's why private insurance spends more than Medicare. But they are cost efficient in the long run because they don't waste hundreds of billions of dollars paying phony claims.
Not surprised to hear about these construction guys. I've had experience with one of them and have always been suspicious of them.
When you do business with GSA they identify every business by a classification. Minority, veteran owned, small business etc. It's a leg up on the competition.
It should be a felony crime to take advantage of our Veterans. Hoping that the owners of these companies are not only prosecuted to the fullest, but forbidden to start any other business again.
DeleteGood Morning Y'all,
ReplyDeleteHubby n' I are looking forward to Saturday.
I'm in a melodious mood this morning. Thought I'd share with y'all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-Hc5abSVHA
The Ventures live playing Apache with guest a very young Peter Frampton.
Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQSPivbWwuY
ReplyDeleteThe Ventures live Hawaii 5-0
Love the drum solo here!
NFL commissioner Goodell had an announcement today about the take a knee protests.
ReplyDeleteMy take on things:
1. The NFL can fade away into memory for all I care!
2. It’s a little late for this, the damage has been done and it is irreparable.
3. The ruling doesn’t really solve anything.
4. Today’s announcement was just Goodell flapping his jaws.
From NBC Sports, though you’ll find this pretty much on all media outlets.
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/05/23/nfl-releases-statement-on-new-anthem-policy/
NFL releases statement on new anthem policy
Posted by Josh Alper on May 23, 2018, 12:22 PM EDT
The National Football League adopted a new policy regarding the national anthem at this week’s league meetings in Atlanta and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell released a statement outlining that policy on Wednesday afternoon.
As reported, the policy calls for all league and team personnel on the field to stand during the playing of the anthem while eliminating the requirement that all league and team personnel be on the field for the playing of the song. It also calls for the league to discipline teams whose personnel do not comply with the policy and allows teams to set their own “work rules” regarding players who do not stand during the playing of the song.
The complete text of that statement appears below:
The policy adopted today was approved in concert with the NFL’s ongoing commitment to local communities and our country — one that is extraordinary in its scope, resources, and alignment with our players. We are dedicated to continuing our collaboration with players to advance the goals of justice and fairness in all corners of our society.
The efforts by many of our players sparked awareness and action around issues of social justice that must be addressed. The platform that we have created together is certainly unique in professional sports and quite likely in American business. We are honored to work with our players to drive progress.
It was unfortunate that on-field protests created a false perception among many that thousands of NFL players were unpatriotic. This is not and was never the case.
This season, all league and team personnel shall stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem. Personnel who choose not to stand for the Anthem may stay in the locker room until after the Anthem has been performed.
We believe today’s decision will keep our focus on the game and the extraordinary athletes who play it — and on our fans who enjoy it.
POLICY STATEMENT
The 32 member clubs of the National Football League have reaffirmed their strong commitment to work alongside our players to strengthen our communities and advance social justice. The unique platform that we have created is unprecedented in its scope, and will provide extraordinary resources in support of programs to promote positive social change in our communities.
The membership also strongly believes that:
1. All team and league personnel on the field shall stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem.
2.The Game Operations Manual will be revised to remove the requirement that all players be on the field for the Anthem.
3. Personnel who choose not to stand for the Anthem may stay in the locker room or in a similar location off the field until after the Anthem has been performed.
4. A club will be fined by the League if its personnel are on the field and do not stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem.
5. Each club may develop its own work rules, consistent with the above principles, regarding its personnel who do not stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem.
6. The Commissioner will impose appropriate discipline on league personnel who do not stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem.
________________
Like I said, it's a little too late - this should have been handled at the onset of the protests.
We have a facility where "legal" immigrants and Vets can show up and wait for someone to drive up and request a person for day labor. You drive up, tell the order taker the job you need done, you are given a price, you take a person to your work site, they do the job then you return the person back to the facility. Every time we hired a person for day labor we noticed they could not speak English. We would always try to find out how much they were being paid because we suspected they were not being paid enough. I had my lawn guy working one day and I had a day labor guy working to pull out some large hedging. I asked my gardener to ask how much the day labor guy was being paid. He answered three to five dollars an hour. I was shocked! We always tried to give the day labor guy tips but they always declined. We were paying four times the amount those guys were being paid and we were fine with that as long as the worker was being paid a fair wage. Now I only use workers my gardener/lawn guy recommends and we make sure that person is paid a fair wage. This is a racket.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to sound pretentious by calling our lawn man a gardener. That is what he calls himself and we are just trying to be respectful.
ReplyDeletelol... You worry way too much, Rose.
ReplyDeleteHell, even my wife has a gardener.
His name is Kevin...
and Kevin isn't just a gardner, he's a bonifed tree stump remover too (giggles)sorry Kevin, couldn't resist.
DeleteLol... And not a very good one either...
DeleteAnd Kevin hasn't remove that rock out in the back yard that is always in Linda's way. What a Lazy Poop!!
ReplyDeleteLol... That rock ain't going nowhere.
ReplyDeleteIt was here long before I was ever thought of and it'll be here long after I'm gone...
I think Jess James hid some bank gold under that Rock, You want to borrow my dolly? heheheh
Deletehe may need a crane or a fork lift (giggles)
DeleteWhat is deal with the rock?
ReplyDeleteRose it is bigger than a 10X10 shed, it isn't going any where. LOL
DeleteBut it is a Nice Rock good selling piece or the same for a buyer. You don't see one like that here, maybe in Texas or Oklahoma, but not so much in Ks that I know of.
DeleteGood piece today Kevin.
ReplyDeleteLocally there should be alot of disgust. When I drive around town I see their signs everywhere.
And you know what's funny?
They are involved with almost every big time tax break/differment project the city has going on. Downtown and 29th and Fairlawn for example.
Wait a minute, that's not so funny....
The rock. It must have been brought in with the glacier? Is it limestone, quartz, granite? I have to see this rock.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I thought for sure I had a photo of the above mentioned rock. But as usual I was wrong.
ReplyDeleteStop by later this morning after the sun has come up and I'll post one...
Don't move it, Kevin!
DeleteAnother find mess I got you into, heheheh
DeleteLol... Thanks Sarge.
ReplyDeleteNew goofy "Rock" blog up and running....