Michael Muller, Bribery, Massachusetts 2023

Mullbury Man Charged with Bribery Scheme

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – Michael Muller, 59, of Millbury, Massachusetts, a former Director of Fleet and Facilities for the company that manages the operations and maintenance of Boston Public Schools’ fleet of school buses, was arrested and charged with bribery and extortion on Tuesday.

Muller is accused of soliciting and accepting bribes from vendors who worked on the buses and in the bus yards, totaling over $870,000 between 2010 and December 2021. The bribes included cash, checks, a used pickup truck worth $15,000, and $85,000 in building materials for Muller’s vacation house.

According to court documents, Muller’s employer, the Transportation Company, had a contract with BPS to manage the operations and maintenance of BPS’ fleet of over 700 school buses. Muller allegedly supervised all the Transportation Company employees who worked in the yards and had the authority to fire the vendors.

One of the vendors, John Colantuoni, 60, of Westwood, Massachusetts, was also arrested and charged with paying bribes to Muller. Colantuoni is accused of paying Muller a total of over $870,000 in bribes, including cash, checks, and other items.

The indictment alleges that Muller conspired to have vendors inflate their invoices and pay him kickbacks. Muller allegedly required one vendor to hire his adult child and exchanged texts with the vendor to collect his cut of the bribes.

Muller will make his initial appearance in federal court in Boston at 2:30 p.m. this afternoon, while Colantuoni was arrested in Florida and is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court in Tampa today. Colantuoni will appear in Boston at a later date.

The Transportation Company subcontracted out much of its work on the BPS contract, including to vendors who cleaned the buses, made autobody and mechanical repairs, and plowed the snow from the bus yards. The vendors gave their invoices to the Transportation Company, which forwarded them to BPS without any markup.

Between 2010 and December 2021, Muller allegedly solicited and accepted a total of more than $870,000 in bribes and kickbacks from five vendors, including Colantuoni. The alleged bribes included, among other things, cash, checks, a used pickup truck worth $15,000, and $85,000 in building materials for Muller’s vacation house.

The Transportation Company mailed checks to the vendors, who were allegedly paid from BPS’ annual transportation budget funded by taxpayer money.

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