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U.S. Department of Justice PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Former District of Columbia Official sentenced to 37 months in prison for demanding bribes
Washington, D.C. - Narase Bob Oudit, a former District of Columbia project manager, has been sentenced to 37 months in prison for demanding bribes in connection with three District Parks and Recreation construction projects he was overseeing in 2002 and 2003, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor, Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and D.C. Inspector General Charles J. Willoughby announced today.
Oudit received his sentence earlier today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before the Honorable Paul L. Friedman, who also ordered that the defendant be placed on two years of supervised release following his prison term.
Oudit, 51, of Washington, D.C., used his position as a project manager in the District of Columbia’s Office of Property Management (“OPM”) to demand over $300,000 in bribes from construction contractors. He pled guilty in July 2006.
According to the government’s evidence, Oudit was a General Engineer at OPM, and he oversaw construction projects for the Department of Parks and Recreation. Oudit supervised the performance of contractors and had the ability to inflict financial harm upon contractors or to reward them. Oudit supervised construction at the North Michigan Park, Sherwood Recreation Center, and Kenilworth Recreation Center projects.
Oudit demanded bribes from contractors at each of these three projects during 2002 and 2003. Specifically, Oudit demanded $294,000 from a contractor at North Michigan Park, threatening not to approve a necessary time extension. The contractor paid Oudit $13,500 in FBI funds. After not receiving the balance, Oudit informed the contractor’s bonding company that OPM was prepared to terminate the contract. Regarding Sherwood Recreation Center, Oudit demanded that a contractor submit a fraudulent request that a $312,519 subcontract be awarded to a construction company that Oudit controlled. Finally, Oudit demanded that a third contractor, who was installing gymnasium floors at North Michigan Park and Kenilworth Recreation Centers, pay $38,500 to the construction company that Oudit controlled.
In announcing today’s sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor, Assistant Director Persichini, and Inspector General Willoughby praised the hard work and perseverance of FBI Special Agent Michelle Rankin and former Special Agent George Scavdis of the Inspector General’s Office. They also acknowledged the efforts of Legal Assistant April Peeler, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Sklamberg, who secured the indictment in the case and handled the guilty plea and sentencing and former Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard Chapman and Michelle Merola, who investigated the case.