A sweet deal if you can get it. Quality Paving resurfaced the driveway of Adams County Commissioner Alice Nichol's home. (Google)
One by one the key figures in a scandal that has rocked Adams County are seeing justice at the hands of juries. Today former Quality Paving owner Jerry Rhea was found guilty of all 23 felony counts he faced.
Rhea pleaded ignorance to a scheme involving his company’s employees and Adams County employees that resulted in the fleecing of taxpayers to the tune of millions of dollars.
Phony invoices and work orders, all done under the less-than-watchful eye of county commissioners, were paid for with no work having actually been done.
This morning Rhea followed Dennis Coen and was found guilty of theft, conspiracy to commit theft and trying to influence a public figure.
Adams County District Attorney Don Quick said in a statement, “It is clear from the verdict that the jurors were convinced the former owner and president of Quality Paving/Resurfacing, Jerry Rhea, was responsible for his part in the fraud involving Adams County taxpayers money.”
Former Adams County public works director Lee Assay and construction manager Sam Gomez are next on the docket and face similar charges.
The Quality Paving scandal is but one of many Adams County has faced in recent years. Corruption and mismanagement run rampant in Brighton and while efforts at reform have seen some success, there is much more work to be done.
Elected officials that have betrayed the public trust like Commissioners Alice Nichol and Skip Fischer and Assessor Gil Reyes still have to pay for their misdeeds and failures. Pleading ignorance as Rhea did and our elected officials do is no defense for the indefensible.
On the net: Ex-Paving Owner Found Guilty In Government Corruption Case
