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Office of Inspector General |
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| Title: | Owner of Two Pennsylvania Engineering Companies Gets Three Years in Jail and Ordered to Pay $321,360 for Leading an Airport Billing Scam |
| Date: | September 12, 2005 |
| Type: | Investigation |
| Summary: | On September 12, John Vitillo, owner of Vitillo Corporation and Vitillo Engineering, Inc., Reading, PA, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia to 36 months in prison, 24 months supervised release, and ordered to pay $317,760 in restitution plus a $3,600 special assessment. Vitillo’s two companies were contractors for the Reading Regional Airport Authority (RRAA), a grantee under FAA’s Airport Improvement Program. In November 2004, Vitillo and his two companies were convicted of conspiracy and theft of federal airport funds. Vitillo or others acting at his direction created fraudulent invoices and records (including employee time cards with inflated hours), resulting in overpayments totaling $317,760 made to Vitillo Corporation and Vitillo Engineering, Inc. by RRAA for work on projects such as runway reconstruction. FAA suspended Vitillo, Vitillo Corporation, and Vitillo Engineering, Inc. on May 25, 2005 and debarment is imminent. This investigation was conducted jointly with the FBI. |