Former Director of Facilities for the Brevard Family of Housing Sentenced to Five Years in Federal Prison for Conspiracy

ORLANDO, FL—U.S. Attorney Robert E. O'Neill announces that U.S. District Judge John Antoon, II today sentenced William Jay Deatrick (62, Columbia, South Carolina) to five years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States for his acceptance of $102,390 in bribes during the time that he was the director of facilities for the Brevard Family of Housing. The court also ordered Deatrick to pay $102,390 in restitution to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and to serve three years of supervised release.

Deatrick pled guilty on December 28, 2010. According to court documents, Deatrick was hired in 2002 by the Brevard Family of Housing as the director of facilities. The Brevard Family of Housing is comprised of three housing authorities: (a) the Housing Authority of Brevard County, (b) the Housing Authority of the City of Cocoa, and (c) the Melbourne Housing Authority. The Brevard Family of Housing receives federal funding from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to subsidize housing complexes controlled by the Brevard Family of Housing. The federal funding for these three housing authorities is managed by the Brevard Family of Housing.

As part of his duties, Deatrick was responsible for managing the Brevard Family of Housing's Capital Fund Program ("CFP") account. To do that, Deatrick was authorized to interface with non-profit entities that were under contract with the Brevard Family of Housing. In particular, Deatrick was permitted to consult with the non-profit entities for the purpose of assisting them in fulfilling their obligations under their contracts and in obtaining payment for their services through the CFP account. Deatrick was not authorized to receive any additional compensation from the non-profit entities or any other source for performing this part of his job responsibilities.

A neighbor of Deatrick's, Derrick O'Neal, was the owner of a company called Landview Maintenance. Landview Maintenance became a contractor for the Brevard Family of Housing after it had submitted bids for lawn maintenance at two projects, PD Johns and Barlow Homes. Eventually, Landview Maintenance bid on, and was awarded, contracts for lawn maintenance at 18 housing projects. The value of each of those contracts was at least $5,000. Deatrick was the one who selected Landview Maintenance for those contracts. Deatrick also was the one who would approve payment of the invoices submitted by Landview Maintenance.

On several separate occasions, O'Neal paid Deatrick for assistance that Deatrick had provided in obtaining business for Landview Maintenance with the Brevard Family of Housing and for authorizing payment to Landview Maintenance for the business that it did with the Brevard Family of Housing. During some of these instances, false invoices were created and approved by Deatrick with inflated values which allowed O'Neal to make kickback payments to Deatrick. A review of bank accounts for Landview Maintenance revealed a series of 10 checks totaling $102,390 that were written on Landview Maintenance bank accounts (or a cashier's check that was obtained by Landview Maintenance) that were deposited into an account belonging to Deatrick.

There was no legitimate reason for Landview Maintenance or O'Neal to provide Deatrick with those checks or payments. In fact, Deatrick was not authorized to receive any additional compensation from the non-profit entities or any other source for performing this part of Deatrick's job responsibilities.

On January 14, 2011, O'Neal was sentenced to one-and-a-half years in federal prison for the bribery of Deatrick. O'Neal was also ordered to pay $102,390 in restitution to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and to serve three years of supervised release.

This case was investigated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development - Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg.