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Air service company exec pleads guilty to kickback scheme
By Palm Beach Business.com
WEST PALM BEACH — The owner of a Pasco County air service company has pleaded guilty to paying kickbacks to a Lake Worth resident who handled ground service and security contracts for a major charter airline company.
Robert A. Riddell of Wesley Chapel on Monday pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in federal district court in West Palm Beach. Riddell faces a maximum of 20 years in prison plus $250,000 in fines on each charge.
According to court records, Riddell operated an air services company in Pasco County. In 2005, Wayne Kepple, a Lake Worth resident working as vice president of ground operations for Ryan International Air, approached Riddell about providing a variety of services for the charter airline, including security in Europe.
Ryan, based in Rockford, Ill., Ryan provides air passenger and cargo services for corporations, sports teams, and the United States government. In fact, a significant portion of Ryan’s business transporting personnel and cargo for the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and the U.S. Marshals service.
Court records state that Riddell paid kickbacks to Kepple in exchange for the service contracts with Ryan. Riddell, in some cases, billed Ryan for work never done; Kepple would approve the invoices, and Riddell would split the proceeds with Kepple. In cases where Riddell’s firm actually did perform the work, the Wesley Chapel resident again would split the money with Kepple.
It’s unclear from court documents exactly how much money Riddell received from Ryan but the total includes $134,000 for work never done; Kepple, received $330,000 in kickbacks over the three years the scheme was in place.
Riddell’s guilty plea is the third to arise out of the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into fraud and anticompetitive activities in the airline charter services industry. On August 12, service company executives David A. Chaisson and James E. Murphy pleaded guilty to different fraud schemes that involved paying kickbacks to Kepple in exchange for contracts with Ryan.
Kepple is expected to appear in federal court in West Palm Beach on Nov. 4 and plead guilty, according to the Justice Department website.
