Camera vendor admits bribery
Officials in Columbus and Cincinnati said to be linked to scheme.
A former chief executive officer for red light ticket camera company RedFlex Traffic Systems, the vendor for red light cameras in the D ayton area, plead guilty to participating in an eight-year bribery and fraud scheme, the Federal B ureau of Investigation said Friday.
There was no mention of any links to the D ayton area, but officials in Columbus and Cincinnati were said to be involved in the scheme.
A ccording to the plea agreement obtained by the Dayton Daily News, various unnamed elected officials in both cities received disbursements through the Democratic Party from a consultant hired by the company totalling $ 30,000.T he payments were in the form of campaign contributions. The Columbus Dispatch was reporting Friday that one of the officials was Columbus City Council President A ndrew Ginther.
T he announcement came from A ssistant A ttorney G eneral Leslie R .Caldwell of the Justice D epartment’s Criminal Division, U.S.A ttorney Carter M .Stewart of the Southern D istrict of O hio and Special A gent in Charge A ngela L. B yers of the FB I’s Cincinnati Field O ffice.
T he executive, Karen L.Finley, 55, of Cave Creek, Arizona, pleaded guilty before U.S. M agistrate Judge T erence P. K emp of the Southern D istrict of O hio to a one-count information charging her with conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery and honest services wire and mail fraud.
Finley’s sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date,the FB I said.
A ccording to the announcement,from D ecember 2005to February 2013,Finley,who served as CEO of the red light camera enforcement company,admitted that between 2005and 2013she participated in a scheme in which the company made campaign contributions to elected public officials in the cities of Columbus and Cincinnati through a consultant retained by the company.
While the consultant is unnamed in court documents,a D ayton D aily News review of campaign contributions found that John P.R aphael made a $ 20,000 contribution to the O hio D emocratic Party on O ct 21,2011 – the amount and date referenced in the Finley plea agreement.H is address is listed at 261 E.North B roadway St.,Columbus.
R aphael’s clients include contractors who, according to the city auditor’s office,hold more than $ 61.7million in contracts with Columbus City H all.R aphael didn’t immediately return a request for comment left on a voice mail message system.
A mong them are construction companies and R edflex T raffic Systems Inc.,the company that supplies and operates the city’s red-light cameras.
“A ccording to admissions made in connection with her plea,Finley and others,including another executive of the company, agreed to provide the conduit campaign contributions with the understanding that the elected public officials would assist the company in obtaining or retaining municipal contracts,including a photo red light enforcement contract with the city of Columbus.Finley also admitted she and her co-conspirators concealed the true nature and source of the payments by the consultant’s submission and the company’s payment of false invoices for “consulting services,” which funds the consultant then provided to the campaigns of the elected public officials,” the release said.
T he FB I said the case was investigated by the FB I’s Cincinnati Field O ffice,Columbus R esident A gency,with the assistance of IR S-Criminal Investigations and the O hio B ureau of Criminal Investigation.
T raffic ticket cameras for both speeding and red light violations continue to issue tickets in A kron, D ayton and T oledo.O ther cities continue to operate the cameras to record violations,but are not using them to issue violations. T he three cities have challenged a state law that mandates an officer be present when tickets are issued.