{"id":27699,"date":"2019-11-27T12:33:59","date_gmt":"2019-11-27T17:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=27699"},"modified":"2019-11-27T12:33:59","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T17:33:59","slug":"former-usps-vmf-supervisor-sentenced-to-12-months-in-federal-prison-for-bribery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2019\/11\/27\/former-usps-vmf-supervisor-sentenced-to-12-months-in-federal-prison-for-bribery\/","title":{"rendered":"Former USPS VMF supervisor sentenced to 12 months in federal prison for bribery"},"content":{"rendered":"

SPRINGFIELD \u2014 A federal judge sentenced a former U.S. Postal Service vehicle maintenance yard supervisor to one year plus one day in prison for extorting two local towing company operators for $56,000 in \u201ctaxes\u201d to award them business from the government.<\/p>\n

Kenneth LaFlamme, 55, formerly of Springfield and now of Fort Myers, Florida, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court after pleading guilty to bribery, witness tampering and lying to federal agents.<\/p>\n

While Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow lobbied for LaFlamme to serve at least 30 months in prison, Judge Mark Mastroianni sentenced him to a year and one day, hanging the lower sentence on LaFlamme\u2019s military service, 32-year work history and fraught childhood. Mass Live<\/a><\/p>\n

See Original DOJ Charges Against LaFlamme Below<\/p>\n

Former United States Postal Service Manager Pleads Guilty To Bribery, Witness Tampering And False Statements To Federal Officials<\/h1>\n
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BOSTON – DOJ 4\/29\/19 – A former United States Postal Service manager pleaded guilty today in federal court in Springfield to charges of bribery, witness tampering and false statements to federal officials.<\/p>\n

Kenneth LaFlamme, 54, of Fort Myers, Fla., pleaded guilty to an Information charging him with one count each of bribery, witness tampering, and false statements to federal officials. U.S. District Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled LaFlamme\u2019s sentencing for Sept. 5, 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf committing the underlying offense of bribery wasn\u2019t bad enough, the defendant\u2019s attempt to interfere with a witness in order to influence grand jury testimony in his favor is particularly egregious,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling. \u201cWe will prosecute people who intentionally interfere with the criminal justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are gratified to have contributed to this investigation and applaud the exceptional work by the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office,\u201d said Special Agent in Charge Scott Pierce of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General. \u201cAlong with our law enforcement partners, the Postal Service OIG will continue to aggressively investigate those who would engage in fraudulent activities against the Postal Service.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, Mr. LaFlamme finally accepted responsibility for taking thousands of dollars in bribes from two towing contractors, in exchange for sending business their way,\u201d said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division. \u201cNot only did he embrace the practice of \u2018pay to play,\u2019 but he also lied about it. Anyone who takes advantage of their position for personal gain, and in furtherance of criminal misconduct, will be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between 2015 and 2018, LaFlamme served as the Manager of the USPS\u2019 Vehicle Maintenance Facility in Springfield. In this capacity, for approximately two years, LaFlamme solicited and received weekly bribes from two towing contractors in exchange for directing valuable business to their companies. After federal investigators served subpoenas on the contractors in April 2018, LaFlamme attempted to influence the grand jury testimony of one of the contractors. When federal investigators later interviewed LaFlamme, he lied about his bribery and witness tampering.<\/p>\n

The bribery charge provides for a sentence of no greater than 15 years in prison, the charge of witness tampering provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison and the charge of making false statements provides for a sentence of no greater than five years in prison. Sentences are imposed by a federal district judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.<\/p>\n

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Scott Pierce, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, Contract Fraud Investigations Division; and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow of Lelling\u2019s Springfield Branch Office is prosecuting the case.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SPRINGFIELD \u2014 A federal judge sentenced a former U.S. Postal Service vehicle maintenance yard supervisor to one year plus one day in prison for extorting two local towing company operators for $56,000 in \u201ctaxes\u201d to award them business from the government. Kenneth LaFlamme, 55, formerly of Springfield and now of Fort Myers, Florida, was sentenced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","category-theftandfraud","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27700,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27699\/revisions\/27700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}