Former Executive of Illinois Refuse Container Repair Company Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Defraud the City of Chicago

WASHINGTON, June 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A former executive of an Illinois refuse disposal container repair company today pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the city of Chicago on a contract for the repair of refuse carts, the Department of Justice announced today.

Douglas E. Ritter, an Illinois resident and a former president of a Schaumburg, Ill., refuse disposal container repair company, pleaded guilty to charges filed in an indictment on April 21, 2009, in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Ritter pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to devise a scheme to defraud the city of Chicago by obtaining money and property through materially false and fraudulent pretenses in relation to the award of a contract bid out by the city of Chicago related to the repair of refuse carts.

The department said that, as part of the conspiracy, Ritter and his co-conspirators conspired to deceive city of Chicago officials about the number of legitimate, competitive bids submitted for the contract. Specifically, Ritter and his co-conspirators fraudulently induced other companies to submit bids for the contract at prices determined by Ritter and his co-conspirators and greater than the price for which Ritter's company had submitted a bid. Included in these bids were fraudulent documents indicating that if awarded the contract, the bidder would enter into subcontracts to purchase goods or services for a specified percentage of the contract from a minority business enterprise company and a women business enterprise, as required by the city of Chicago. Finally, Ritter and his co-conspirators also fraudulently certified to the city on Ritter's company's bid that it had not entered an agreement with any other bidder relating to the price named in any other bid submitted to the city for the contract, the department said.

Today's plea resulted from an ongoing investigation of the refuse cart repair industry being conducted by the Department's Antitrust Division and the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General.

Anyone with information concerning anticompetitive conduct involving government or private contracts with the city of Chicago is urged to call the Antitrust Division's Chicago Field Office at 312-353-7530 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice