Contractor Involved in Waterbury Corruption Probe Sentenced

Nora R. Dannehy, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that STEPHEN A. MARTIN, 74, of Waterbury, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford to two years of probation and was ordered to pay a fine in the amount of $4000. On October 19, 2005, MARTIN pleaded guilty to one count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, and one count of filing a false federal income tax return.

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, in 2001, MARTIN's business, Martins Landscaping, Inc. ("Martins"), had a contract worth more than $109,000 to sweep the streets of the City of Waterbury. In July 2001, the City of Waterbury Superintendent of Streets informed Martins that he was dissatisfied with Martins' performance regarding the sweeping of a number of the City's streets, and told Martins that the company would have to re-sweep those streets. One day after the Superintendent of Streets notified Martins that the company would have to re-sweep certain streets, MARTIN provided $500 in political contributions to then-City Budget Director Thomas Ariola to help retire debt that remained from Philip Giordano's unsuccessful campaign for United States Senate in 2000. MARTIN has admitted that he provided these political contributions with the intent to influence Giordano, who at the time was the Mayor of Waterbury, to intervene on behalf of MARTIN.

MARTIN also caused Martins to file a false federal corporate income tax return for calendar year 2000. In September 2001, MARTIN assisted in the preparation of his company's federal tax return with the knowledge that the return would and did omit more than $13,000 in bartering income that Martins had received from a travel agency for providing landscaping services to the travel agency. The travel agency paid Martins for landscaping services in the form of airplane tickets. Martins used some of the airplane tickets it received from the travel agency as a means also to barter with Ariola, in exchange for accounting and tax return preparation services that Ariola provided to Martins.

MARTIN is required to pay the outstanding penalties and interest on his 1998 returns, which total approximately $5,800. MARTIN previously has filed amended tax returns for 1999 and 2000, and paid the taxes, penalties and interest for those years.

On February 28, 2005, Ariola pleaded guilty to federal bribery, income tax, and campaign-related charges. His sentencing is scheduled for August 31, 2009.

This investigation has been conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Peter S. Jongbloed.

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