texas

Contractor from Colorado Gets Prison for South Texas Fraud

A Department of Veterans Affairs contractor from Colorado must serve a year and a day in prison for fraud related to work on a South Texas hospital.

Navy veteran Jonathan Patrick Saunders was sentenced Thursday in San Antonio. A federal judge also ordered the president of Saunders MEP Inc. to repay nearly $1.5 million.

The 71-year-old Saunders last month pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

Investigators say Saunders from 2008 to 20013 provided bogus information to secure up to $2 million in VA contracts for Texas projects. The March 2013 indictment involved qualifications for work on a VA campus in Kerrville, 60 miles northwest of San Antonio.

Prosecutors have said Saunders falsely said his firm qualified as a service-disabled veteran-owned small business, using some people's names without their  permission.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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