Summary

On May 19, Kenneth Hardin, a former Colorado Regional Transportation District (RTD) employee, was sentenced in U.S. District Court, Denver, Colorado, to 18 months’ incarceration followed by 3 years of supervised release. Hardin was a senior manager in RTD’s Civil Rights Division. His duties included overseeing compliance with the DOT’s DBE program, directing regulatory compliance, investigating complaints, community outreach, and program strategy development.

In 2014, FTA provided an estimated $218 million in grants to RTD. On February 3, 2016, a Federal jury found Hardin guilty of soliciting, demanding, and accepting four bribes totaling $5,100 with the intent to influence RTD transactions involving federally-funded contracts.

DOT-OIG is conducting this investigation jointly with the FBI and the IRS, Criminal Investigation.