PA man sentenced for role in fraud scheme at Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst

A Pennsylvania man who worked as a regional manager for a contractor involved with projects at Picatinny Arsenal and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst will spend more 28-months in prison for his role in a fraud scheme.

James Conway, 48, who was employed as a regional manager for a contractor involved with construction projects at Picatinny Arsenal (PICA) and at Joint Base McGuire-Dix- Lakehurst (Ft. Dix) was sentenced for his role in a fraud scheme that caused losses of $1.4-million, announced U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito.

Conway previously plead guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to an information charging him with one count of wire fraud and one count of accepting unlawful kickbacks.

From September 2009 to August 2015, Carpenito said Conway secretly owned a company called Walsh Construction Services, LLC (Walsh Construction), which purported to provide construction services.

Conway used his position as regional manager for a construction contractor and allegedly steered subcontracts to Walsh Construction for jobs at PICA and Ft. Dix.

He signed the subcontracts as Keith Walsh, the purported owner or vice president of Walsh Construction, however, there's no person by that name who owned or was the vice president of Walsh Construction.

Conway is accused of using Walsh Construction to obtain payments from the construction contractor by submitting invoices and bills on behalf of Walsh Construction for work purportedly performed at PICA and Ft. Dix.

Many of the invoices and bills included charges for work that Walsh Construction only partially did, or for work that was not performed at all by Walsh Construction, causing losses of $1.4-million.

Conway also accepted kickbacks totaling $180,345.00, from four subcontractors who served as subcontractors to the contractor on various construction projects at PICA and Ft. Dix knowing that the subcontractors expected, in return, to obtain favorable treatment from Conway.

In addition to the prison term, Conway was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $1.4-million in restitution.

The government is represented by Senior Litigation Counsel Leslie Faye Schwartz of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.

Defense counsel: James Friedman Esq., New Brunswick, New Jersey.

More Jersey Shore News: