FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1994 (202) 616-2771 TDD (202) 514-1888 FORMER PANAMA CANAL COMMISSIONER OFFICER IS SENTENCED WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Federal District Judge Joanna Seybert of Brooklyn, N.Y. has sentenced Gerard Lavecchia, the former Chief Contracting Officer for the Panama Canal Commission, a U.S. Agency that operates the Panama Canal, to 27 months imprisonment for extortion and kickbacks, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today. In a court proceeding on Friday, September 23, Judge Seybert also ordered that Levecchia pay $347,000 restitution to the Panama Canal Commission, although the Judge may adjust that amount after receiving submissions from both parties on this issue. Earlier this year Lavecchia pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering and one count of evading incomes taxes. Gerard P. Lavecchia was the Chief of the PCC's Logistical Support Division from 1986 until he resigned in May of 1990. In that position Lavecchia had authority to award, supervise, and terminate contracts for the Panama Canal Commission. Lavecchia previously admitted that he used his authority to commit a pattern of racketeering acts. Lavecchia admitted he solicited and received more than $200,000 in extortion payments and kickbacks from three contractors that did business with the Panama Canal Commission. The racketeering charges to which Lavecchia pleaded guilty alleged that he threatened to terminate contracts if the contractors did not meet his demands. Lavecchia also devised a scheme to defraud a Miami contractor in the out of $25,000 for non-existent security services in Panama. The case was investigated by the Miami Division of the FBI, the Inspector General of the Panama Canal Commission, and the Criminal Investigative Division of the IRS. The case was prosecuted by Thomas N. Burrows and Lynn C. Mattucci, Senior Trial Attorneys of the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. ### 94-551