Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017 | 7 p.m.
Almost two years after federal investigators raided a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation office, an accounting firm and the home of a former regional finance chief for the water management agency, which oversees the Hoover Dam, two suspects have been indicted on corruption-related charges.
Rick Leavitt, a former regional financial management director of the agency’s Lower Colorado Region, and Dustin M. Lewis, 43, an accountant at the LL Bradford & Co. tax firm, were each indicted on one count of honest services fraud conspiracy, according to the office of the U.S. attorney for the district of Nevada.
Additionally, Leavitt, 46, is facing one charge of solicitation and receipt of a bribe by a public official, and Lewis was charged with solicitation and bribery of a public official, according to officials.
Prosecutors allege that for about a year beginning in February 2015, Lewis bribed and “provided kickbacks” to Leavitt in exchange for a favorable position in giving a contract to Lewis’ firm, official said. Leavitt sat on a bid committee with the Southern California Public Power Authority and gave the firm a top rating.
The suspects, both Henderson residents, conspired in the process of the bid submission, while Leavitt provided Lewis with insider information.
After the firm won the contract bid, prosecutors allege, Lewis paid Leavitt $200,000. Furthermore, in January 2016, Leavitt went on to work as a tax partner with the same firm.
Federal authorities initiated the process of criminal forfeiture against Leavitt for about $200,000, which includes a 2016 Mercedes-Benz, officials said. Lewis will purportedly have to forfeit about $700,000. Both are scheduled to appear in a Las Vegas federal court on Dec. 21.
In February last year, local and federal authorities raided a reclamation office in Boulder City, Leavitt’s Henderson home and the southwest offices of the tax firm, the Associated Press reported then.
The reclamation bureau oversees the levels of the Hoover Dam and other Colorado River facilities, which provide drinking water and power to millions of people in seven U.S. states.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
