FORMER DEPARTMENT OF ARMY EMPLOYEE PLEADS GUILTY

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Douglas Harry Ennis, 48, of Athens, Alabama, plead guilty today in U.S. District Court to two counts of making false statements on a financial disclosure form to the Army and one count of conspiracy. Ennis was charged by an Indictment in November 2007 with two counts of false statements. On February 19, 2008, an Information was filed charging Ennis with conspiracy. Today, he pled guilty to all the charges.

"Payoffs to government contracting officials undermines the integrity of the contracting process and will be prosecuted," stated U.S. Attorney Alice H. Martin. "Cooperation by Ennis in this investigation will be helpful."

Ennis was employed as the Deputy Director of the Joint Center for Technology Integration (JCTI) located at the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC) at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. The USASMDC is the command of the U.S. Army which has responsibility for research, development, and acquisition of systems that may be utilized for defense against ballistic missiles.

In the written plea agreement filed today in U.S. District Court, Ennis agrees that as part of his employment at the Department of the Army, he was required to submit form OGE-450A Confidential Certification of No New Interests. On the form, he was required to identify any new interests, sources of income, debts, reportable outside positions, and gifts. In count one, Ennis failed to report that he received $4,900 during the period from October 1, 2001 to September 30, 2002. In Count two Ennis failed to report such income, liability and gifts received by him from 2003 through 2004 in the amount of $75,000. The income/gifts were paid to Ennis by an officer or representative of certain companies which were sub-contractors and vendors on contracts funded by USASMDC over which Ennis exercised authority as Deputy Director of JCTI.

Ennis also plead guilty to conspiracy, which began January 1999 and continued through November 2005. During that time, Ennis conspired with others to give preference to certain contracts funded by SMDC for which he and Michael Cantrell, the Director of JCTI, received money from contractors. Cantrell, who was also charged, pled guilty to conspiracy and bribery charges late last year.

Also, as a part of the plea agreement, Ennis waives his right to an appeal. Criminal Forfeiture will be addressed at the sentencing hearing.

The penalty for making false statements is five years in prison, and a fine of $250,000, or both. The penalty for conspiracy is five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.

The investigation of this matter was conducted by Special Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with the cooperation and assistance of USASMDC, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division-Fraud Team, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service of the Department of Defense. Assistant United States Attorney Herbert H. Henry, III, is prosecuting this matter on behalf of the U.S. Government.