The Justice Department and US Atty. Karen L Loeffler announced on Thursday that following the guilty plea by ADA Station Communication Inc. and Herschell Becker to three counts of bribing a public official on August 27, 2015, a federal jury in Anchorage found John Becker a.k.a. Jack Becker guilty of two counts of the same charge.

According to the Justice Department, “ADA Station Communication, Inc. is a telecommunications company based in Crossville, Tennessee, which specializes in providing turnkey structured cabling infrastructures including analysis, design, engineering, installation, and maintenance of voice, video and data networks.” It was founded in 1995 by Herschell’s and John’s (Jack’s) brother, Jeff Becker.

The case began after ADA was awarded, and completed a subcontract to install and upgrade fiber optic cables on Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson near Anchorage in 2014-2015 under five contracts. After completion, the United States Air Force Cable/Antenna Work Leader inspected the work and found “numerous discrepancies.” The Air Force official informed the Beckers of the issues and requested that they fix them. 

It was June 18th, 2014 when two of the brothers offered the Air Force official $10,000 to overlook the issues and sign off on their work. They informed the official that it would cost them $60,000 to fix the discrepancies and offered to “pad his pocket,” and told him that “the less people that know, the better,” the Justice Department revealed. The official declined the offer.

The Becker brothers met with the Air Force official again on August 22nd, 2014, not knowing that the official had told the Air Force Office of Special Investigations of the bribery scheme, and was now working at the direction of that office.

When they met this time, they discussed the current status of the work done and the bribe was offered again. They also discussed future jobs that the company had in the state and asked the official to sign off on the JBER job once again. This time, the official was offered $5,000, and at the direction of law enforcement, he agreed. The official was asked  for his address for payment.

On August 27th, Jack Becker again spoke with the official regarding the “logistics” of the $5,000 payment, and again asked for his address. Later in the day, Herschell Becker told the official that he would get paid the next day and also told him that if he could help the company win bids for upcoming jobs that it would be worth his while, DOJ reported.

Again, on August 28th, Herschell texted the official and told him that he would be “getting with him today.” He also again asked the official to put in a good word for them on upcoming jobs, and again, said it would be worth the official’s while.

That same day, a check was issued from the company’s Accounting Manager and negotiated for petty cash funds and sent to a Walmart in Anchorage where it was picked up by Jack Becker. After picking up the cash, Becker concealed the envelope of money in a set of large papers and hand delivered it to the Air Force official.

DOJ states that the United States will be seeking restitution on behalf of the USAF in the approximate amount of $345,000. The company faces up to five years probation and a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greater.

Herschell and Jack Becker face up to 15 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count.

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  ada station communication, air force, Alaska, Anchorage, becker, bribery, conviction, herschell, jack, jeff, john, subcontracotrs