Bribe-Taker Ellis McCoy, Former City of Portland Smart Parking Meter Manager, Sentenced to 24 Months in Prison |
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Topics: Ellis McCoy
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U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Oregon
27 May 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PORTLAND, Ore. – Ellis McCoy, former Manager of Portland’s Parking Operations Division, was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Marco Hernandez to 24 months in prison after his conviction for taking almost $200,000 in bribes from two city contractors from 2002 to mid-2011.
In August 2012, a year after FBI and IRS agents executed search warrants at McCoy’s office and home, McCoy pleaded guilty to conspiring to accept bribes, accepting bribes, and filing false tax returns on which he did not report a substantial amount of the bribe income. McCoy admitted he gave favorable treatment to the city contractors in return for $164,567 in checks and currency plus the value of travel, meals, lodging, and other expenses of an undetermined amount.
During its investigation, the government proved McCoy created a phony consulting company and submitted invoices for fictitious consulting work so he and the contractors could disguise some of the bribe payments as payments for consulting work. The government also proved McCoy accepted about $70,000 of the bribe payments in cash and that the contractors paid for some or all of his meals, travel, and entertainment expenses on about 60 trips for business and pleasure.
“The citizens of Portland are entitled to an honest day’s work from every City employee and they did not get that from Ellis McCoy,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams. “Instead, McCoy broke trust with Portland and its citizens and rigged the contracting for smart parking meters in favor of those who bribed him. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI, and the IRS will always make it a priority to aggressively investigate and prosecute those involved in public corruption of any kind.”
George Levey, former president of Cale Parking Systems USA, Inc. and one of the contractors who bribed McCoy, pleaded guilty on April 29, 2015, and is scheduled to be sentenced on August 11, 2015.
This case was investigated by the FBI and the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service. The case is being handled by Assistant U. S. Attorney Seth D. Uram.