FORMER COUNTY OFFICIAL GETS PRISON SENTENCE

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Former Director of the Jefferson County Environmental Services Department, JACK W SWANN was sentenced today to 102 months imprisonment. U.S. District Court Judge L. Scott Coogler handed the sentence down after taking testimony at the sentencing hearing, and also ordered SWANN to pay a fine of $250,000, restitution of $355,000, and serve three years of supervised release upon completion of his prison term.

SWANN, 61, of Birmingham, was convicted of bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud in connection with the Jefferson County Sewer Contracts in October 2006. He will report to prison in approximately three months.

"The lure of easy money/bribes seems very appealing, until you think about 102 months in federal prison," stated U.S. Attorney Alice H. Martin. "The Public Corruption Task Force hopes that these strong sentences will remind other public officials of the serious consequence of corrupt activity."

The bribery scheme took place while SWANN was employed by Jefferson County as the Director of the Environmental Services Department. SWANN was convicted by jury verdicts of corruptly accepting bribes from agents of Roland Pugh Construction, Inc., Rast Construction, Inc., and F.W. Dougherty Engineering and Associates, with the intent to be influenced and rewarded for favorable treatment on sewer contracts. In many cases, the contractors covered up the bribe scheme by filing false invoices and charging the county for the cost of the bribes.

Two sewer contractors and their company were sentenced yesterday for their actions in bribes paid to SWANN and former County Commissioner Chris McNair. Bobby J. Rast, 57, of Birmingham, was sentenced to 51 months in prison, and ordered to pay a $2.5 million dollar fine. Daniel B. Rast, 51, of Birmingham, was sentenced to 41 months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of $1 million. Both were ordered by Judge Coogler to serve a 3 year term of supervised release after their prison term is served. Rast Construction was sentenced to 5 years probation, and ordered to pay a fine of $1,702,500. Chris McNair awaits sentencing in U.S. District Court which is set for April 16, before U.S. District Court Judge Robert Propst.

"The people of Alabama have a right to expect honest services from their public officials," Carmen S. Adams, Special Agent in Charge, Birmingham Field Division Federal Bureau of Investigation. "Unfortunately, those individuals such as Mr. Swann, abuse their positions for private gain, undermining the integrity of all government operations. Public corruption remains the FBI's number one criminal priority and the citizens of Alabama can be assured the FBI will continue to look into all allegations of wrongdoing by public officials."

The investigation of this matter was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution of this matter was conducted by Department of Justice Trial Attorneys William D. Dillion and Deana Timberlake-Wiley.