Anthony Willie, 55, of Culpeper, is going away for seven years after being sentenced in Alexandria, Virginia, for his role in an $11 million bribery racket that turned the Virginia Department of Transportation’s snow-clearing operations into a cash-for-contracts free-for-all. The former superintendent of VDOT’s Burke Area Headquarters abused his authority for over five years, trading snow plow jobs for suitcase-style cash payments from trucking companies desperate for government work.
Court documents reveal Willie and his co-conspirator, Kenneth Duane Adams, 42, of Fairfax, systematically rigged the bidding process for winter snow removal from 2011 through 2017. The pair demanded kickbacks—often in cash—equal to a percentage of hourly invoices from contractors like Rolando Pineda Moran, Shaheen Sariri, and John Williamson. In exchange, Willie and Adams fast-tracked contracts and rubber-stamped invoices, steering nearly $11 million in state work to their pay-to-play partners. Drop-offs routinely happened at fast food joints, grocery store lots, and quiet corners of Burke and Fairfax—each handoff a middle finger to public trust.
Adams, also sentenced to 64 months, doubled as a corrupt bureaucrat and street-level drug dealer. While pocketing bribes, he was funneling cocaine to coworkers—including Willie—and receiving 129 grams during a November 2015 raid at his home. He also admitted to brokering fake snow removal deals through a nominee-owned shell, Supreme Landscaping, which pulled in $160,000 from Elmer Antonio Mejia, 50, of Aldie, under the guise of legitimate work. The drug charge piled onto his fraud conviction, sealing his fate behind bars.
The fallout has been widespread. Moran, 46, of Alexandria, and Elmer Mejia each received six months. John Williamson, 51, of Springfield, was hit with 90 days. Sariri, 31, of Fairfax, still faces up to 20 years, with sentencing set for March 9. All pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud—charges that reflect not just theft, but a calculated betrayal of Virginia taxpayers who shelled out millions for snow removal that was, in reality, bought and sold like contraband.
Tracy Doherty-McCormick, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, called the scheme a ‘blatant abuse of public office for private gain.’ FBI Assistant Director Andrew W. Vale confirmed the operation was rooted in greed and sustained by secrecy—’until we tore it apart.’ U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema handed down the sentences after a probe led by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Virginia State Police, and Fairfax County PD, with support from VDOT’s internal watchdogs.
Willie’s 84-month sentence stands as a warning: even in the slow grind of winter roadwork, corruption leaves tracks. And in Virginia’s snow-laden corridors, those tracks now lead straight to federal prison.
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Key Facts
- State: Virginia
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Public Corruption
- Source: Official Source ↗
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