Associated Press Published

Ex-West Virginia Highway Worker Gets Prison for Fraud Conspiracy

Roads, Road, Highway, Turnpike

A former West Virginia Division of Highways employee has been sentenced to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to wire and tax fraud, admitting he used his position to funnel work to a South Carolina business and received secret payments of almost $200,000.

Bruce Kenney III, of Norfolk, Virginia, has admitted to his role in a conspiracy from 2008 to 2014 to bypass normal state procedures and steer $1.5 million of inspection work to Dennis Corp. of Columbia.

The 61-year-old Kenney, who pleaded guilty in federal court to two charges, worked in the Traffic Engineering Division.

Kenney was ordered to pay $34,714 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service to forfeit $162,536.

Three others have also been prosecuted in the case.