Virginia Contractor Pleads Guilty to Bribery Scheme

A former United States Navy contractor has pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and conspiring to commit bribery, federal authorities announced today.

Scott B. Miserendino, Sr., 55, a former contractor for the United States Navy Military Sealift Command, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and conspiring to commit bribery in the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to court documents, Miserendino and his co-conspirator, Kenny E. Toy, the former Afloat Programs Manager for the N6 Command, Control, Communication, and Computer Systems Directorate, initiated a bribery scheme in approximately November 2004 that spanned five years and involved multiple co-conspirators, including two companies.

The scheme resulted in Miserendino and Toy receiving more than $265,000 in cash bribes, as well as other things of value, including flat screen televisions, laptop computers, a vacation rental in Nags Head, North Carolina, a football helmet signed by Troy Aikman, and softball bats.

In exchange for the bribes, Miserendino and Toy performed various official acts to assist the contracting companies, which received approximately $5.5 million in business from the Military Sealift Command during the conspiracy.

Miserendino also admitted to engaging in a scheme to conceal his criminal activity, which involved arranging for more than $85,000 to be paid to one of his co-conspirators, Dwayne A. Hardman, in an attempt to prevent him from reporting the bribery scheme to law enforcement authorities.

Miserendino is scheduled to be sentenced on November 7, 2014. Five other individuals have already pleaded guilty in connection with the bribery scheme, including Toy, who was sentenced to 96 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $100,000.