August 14, 2007
FORMER SPRINT EMPLOYEE PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT WIRE FRAUD
KANSAS CITY, KAN. - Mary Drew, 43, Cleveland, Mo., a former Sprint employee,
pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud
in a scheme to defraud Sprint of its right to honest services of its
employees, or for obtaining money or property by false pretenses. The
scheme involved giving a high tech consulting firm the upper hand in
contract negotiations with Sprint, an Overland Park-based telecommunications
company.
Drew admitted that while she worked for Sprint she also was paid by Four Corners Telecommunications Corp., a software development company. Without Sprint's knowledge, she assisted Four C in negotiations with Sprint for contract work.
"During negotiations between Four C and Sprint via telephone conference calls, Ms. Drew refused to speak so her fellow Sprint employees would not recognize her voice and know that she was helping Four C," said U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren..
Drew was indicted in May along with co-defendants Leslie Genova, Daniel Coffey III, and William Collum. They were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 10 counts of wire fraud. The crimes were alleged to have occurred from November 2000 to July 2002 in Johnson County, Kan., while Genova and Drew were Sprint employees and Coffey and Collum were doing work under contract for Sprint.
Drew is set for sentencing May 19, 2008. Genova, Coffey and Collum are scheduled for trial April 22, 2008. Frederick Eddy pleaded guilty to a conspiracy count in a related case in July 2006 and is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 10,. 2007
According to the indictment:
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Coffey was the founder of a software development company called Four Corners Telecommunications Corp (Four C), which had offices in Overland Park and Burlington, Vt.
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Collum joined Four C in the summer of 2001.
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Coffey was retained by Sprint as an independent contractor to work on the Sprint ION (Integrated On-Demand Network) project, which sought to provide customers with simultaneous voice, video and data services through a single telephone line. Collum also worked as an independent contractor with Sprint on the ION project at the same time as Coffey.
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In late 2000, a bid was submitted to Sprint on behalf of Four C to implement a network management system based on software developed by Coffey and two unindicted co-conspirators.
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In December 2000 Sprint hired Four C to provide computer consulting services.
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In spring 2001, while Coffey and the unindicted co-conspirators were doing consulting work for Sprint, they began negotiations on an amendment to the contract between Sprint and Four C, which they knew could be worth $4 million to $6 million.
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In March 2001, Mary Drew offered to assist Four C in contract negotiations with Sprint. At the time, Drew was an employee of Sprint working as a manager in the long-distance division.
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Drew brought another Sprint employee, Leslie Ann Genova, to meetings with Four C. Genova was an attorney who worked for Sprint on patent filings and legal issues related to research and development. In August 2002, Four C hired Genova to assist in negotiations with Sprint.
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uring negotiations with Sprint via conference calls, Genova identified herself as Sally Ann Cavanaugh, an attorney for Four C, and Drew refused to speak so that she would not be identified by other Sprint employees.
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Both Drew and Genova were being paid by Four C to assist with negotiations.
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Receiving $941,512 in payment from Sprint for testing Four C's software.
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Higher rates for support and maintenance totaling approximately $190,000.
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An amendment to Four C's contract charging higher support and maintenance rates adding approximately $1.3 million to Sprint's costs.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation worked on the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Rask is prosecuting.
