Tulsa Public Works corruption

Two former managers in Tulsa’s Public Works Department and four area businessmen have been charged by a grand jury with bribery and kickback schemes involving millions of dollars intended for city streets, bridges and other public construction projects, federal officials announced Thursday.

The potential losses to the city could total nearly $4.5 million, according to some estimates, and Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor pledged full cooperation during the ongoing investigation and said the city had “zero tolerance” for corruption and misuse of funds anywhere in city government.

Four indictments unsealed Thursday, the result of a nearly two-year federal investigation, make the accusations against former city employees Larry Wayne Baker, 52, who was a design engineering manager, and Albert S. Martinez, 47, a former field engineering manager.

The four businessmen charged include Harlan Eugene Yocham of Sapulpa, Max Elliot Wolf of Owasso, Kenneth Kirk Shoemaker of Bartlesville and Stuart Jay Franklin of Claremore.

Yocham owns Yocham Enterprises; Wolf is president of Horizon Construction Co. Inc.; Shoemaker is president of FBS Inc. and an officer of FBS Engineers Inc., and Franklin is an accountant for FBS Inc.

“The allegations ... reflect schemes of graft and greed that deprive the city of Tulsa and the citizens of Tulsa of the honest services of certain city employees, and lined the pockets of both the employees and businessmen with ill-gotten proceeds of those corrupt schemes,” U.S. Attorney David E. O’Meilia said Thursday.

Specifically, the schemes were concocted to steer public works contracts to certain private businesses and to pay kickbacks to steer those contracts their way, the indictments allege.

While the total penalties were not set out in the indictments, some of the counts carry up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.
O’Meilia said there was no evidence of any substandard work or inspections performed on any of the projects in question. He also could not say what or who, such as a whistleblower, initially tipped off investigators to the alleged scheme.

All six defendants appeared before a federal magistrate Thursday and were released on personal recognizance bond and ordered to report to the U.S. Probation Office for pretrial supervision, said Randy Edgmon, a spokesman with the U.S. attorney’s office.

Attempts to reach Martinez were unsuccessful. When reached at his home, a man identifying himself as Baker called the allegations “false,” then hung up.

A message left at Yocham Enterprises was unreturned. An employee at Horizon Construction said he could not comment. A person who answered the phone at FBS Engineers hung up the phone when asked to comment on the allegations.

The indictments allege that:

– Shoemaker and Franklin bribed Martinez to use his vote and influence on a committee of the Public Works Department that awarded contracts for engineering inspection services on projects to FBS Engineers Inc. and FBS, Inc.

– Wolf and Martinez conspired to fraudulently cause the city to pay illegally inflated final payment invoices submitted by Horizon Construction Co. on public construction projects. Proceeds were then shared equally between the defendants

– Yocham paid Martinez a $10,000 bribe to influence a Tulsa Public Works Department committee to award contracts to Yocham’s company.

– Baker bribed a city employee with about $9,000 to influence his vote in awarding an inspection contract.

“I find it quite appalling,” said James E. Finch, special agent-in-charge in the FBI’s Oklahoma City Division Office. “It disgusts me when a public official betrays the trust and the confidence of the citizens of the U.S.

“The FBI will continue to dedicate significant resources to identifying, aggressively investigating and prosecuting those public officials who choose to betray the trust and the confidence of the public by abusing and exploiting their official positions for personal gain by engaging in criminal activity,” he said.