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Chesterfield, Missouri Man Sentenced on Corruption Charges

UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

RICHARD G. CALLAHAN 
United States Attorney

 
For further information contact Public Information Officer Jan Diltz at (314) 539-7719 or [email protected]

June 26, 2012
For Immediate Release

CHESTERFIELD MAN SENTENCED ON CORRUPTION CHARGES

St. Louis, MO - RUSSELL TODD of Chesterfield, Missouri, was sentenced to 15 months in prison Monday afternoon for accepting illegal gratuities from government contractors while the Director of Projects for the VA Medical Center in St. Louis between 2007 and 2010. Todd appeared for sentencing before Chief U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry.

Todd admitted with his plea in March, to accepting approximately $20,000 in luxury baseball tickets, meals and entertainment and a local gentlemen's club from Joseph Madlinger and Michael Woodling, while he was steering $3.4 million in work at the VA to their company. Woodling and Madlinger pled guilty to making the illegal payment to Todd and to defrauding the VA by setting up a front company, purportedly owned and operated by a service-disabled veteran for the purpose of securing set aside contracting work for businesses owed by service disabled veterans.

Co-defendants Woodling, Fenton, MO, and Madlinger, Dupo, IL, pled guilty in February to one felony count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud involving the payment of gratuities to a federal official. Madlinger was sentenced to 24 months in prison and received a $50,000 fine. His amount of restitution will be determined at a later date. Woodling was sentenced to three years of probation, a $60,000 fine and ordered to pay restitution of $1.5 million.

This case was investigated by the Offices of Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the General Services Administration and the Small Business Administration. Assistant United States Attorney Tom Albus handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.