Former Oregon transportation employees plead guilty in $6M equipment reselling scheme

Three former Oregon Division of Transportation workers at a Clackamas County upkeep store pleaded responsible Tuesday to bilking the state out of greater than $6 million by furtively reselling the company’s tools.

Former transportation upkeep coordinator John Tipton hatched the long-running scheme on the Lawnfield Upkeep Station in Clackamas in 2005, prosecutors stated, earlier than regularly roping in two different workers and certainly one of their wives because the years glided by.

The plot was uncovered after an unrelated whistleblower criticism was filed in opposition to Tipton, prosecutors stated. ODOT introduced the outcomes of an inside investigation that led to the dismissal or abrupt retirement of all three workers in February 2020.

Tipton, now 61, pleaded responsible in Clackamas County Circuit Courtroom to 35 counts of assorted fees, together with first-degree aggravated theft, pc crime and official misconduct. A plea deal requires him to obtain 12 years in jail.

Additionally coming into responsible pleas have been former panorama supervisor Frank Clarence Smead Jr., who is anticipated to obtain a seven-year jail sentence; his spouse, Marta Smead, who didn’t work for ODOT and is anticipated to be sentenced to 3 and a half years in jail; and former coverage analyst Autumn Arndt, who is anticipated to obtain a five-year sentence and pay again $100,000 to the state.

The plotters used an ODOT bank card to buy upkeep tools reminiscent of chainsaws that have been then secretly resold on-line, in accordance with prosecutors and court docket information. The staff lined their tracks by creating lots of of phony invoices.

“The plea negotiations mirrored the relative culpability of the defendants,” stated Clackamas County Chief Deputy District Lawyer Chris Owen.

ODOT didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. All 4 defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 6.

— Zane Sparling; zsparling@oregonian.com; 503-319-7083; @pdxzane

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