A Florida man — the instigator in a multi-million dollar forged surety construction bond scheme where one of the victims was Whitehorn Construction, the original contractor for the Airport Road project — has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison.

Eric D. Campbell, who has been in federal custody since his arrest, was indicted in May last year by a federal grand jury in Atlanta, charging him with three counts of wire fraud; two counts of aggravated identity theft; and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

However, under a plea deal with prosecutors last October, Campbell pled guilty to one count of wire fraud, a crime punishable by a maximum of 20 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.

Campbell appeared yesterday for sentencing before U.S. District Court Thomas W. Thrash Jr. at the federal court in Atlanta, Georgia, according to electronic court records.

In a national media statement, prosecutors say Campbell was sentenced to four years and nine months in jail for operating a $100 million surety bond fraud scheme, which caused not only financial losses, but also created delays in construction projects across the country. The scheme also compromised bids resulting in some contracts being awarded to unqualified construction companies.

He was ordered to pay just over $1.9 million in restitution and to serve, upon release from jail, three years of supervised release.

According to the plea agreement, part of the amount of money lost and attributed to the actions of the defendant is at least $1 million but less than $2.5 million. Additionally, there were more than ten victims involved and the federal government intends to ensure that money owed all victims is part of the restitution.

The indictment listed 23 projects where Campbell used forged and fraudulent bonds and power of attorney documents. Among the projects listed was the local federally funded $7.99 million project by Whitehorn Construction for the Airport Road project.

Court documents in a civil case filed by Federal Insurance against Campbell and another man — that was handled at the federal court in Jacksonville, Florida — show that as of early 2014, Whitehorn had paid $399,894.25 in premium payments for the bonds to Campbell directly and to the Individual Surety Group, LLC.

According to prosecutors, Campbell fraudulently held himself out to contractors and government agencies as having the authority to execute or issue surety bonds on behalf of the Federal Insurance Company and Pacific Indemnity Company, affiliates of the Chubb group.

To perpetuate the scheme, Campbell created fraudulent surety bonds, embossed the bonds using a counterfeit seal and forged the signatures of Chubb group officials, the government said.

J. Britt Johnson, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, said the level of fraud seen in this case was costly in many ways to those doing business with Campbell.

“It is hoped that the sentencing of Mr. Campbell will send a clear message to others that these types of criminal schemes to defraud are destined to fail and those involved will be held accountable,” he said in a national statement.

Because it was already after hours, the defense didn’t immediately respond to Samoa News’ email request for comments. However, Campbell’s attorney, Nicole M. Kaplan requested in her sentencing memo that the defendant be given a 36 month sentence which she said would be adequate to protect the public, deter him from future criminal conduct and satisfy all of the sentencing purposes of federal law.  Kaplan said her client anticipated the government would request 57 months in prison.

She explained in the sentencing memo that since June of last year, Campbell has been held in federal custody and he has been locked down 23 hours a day, can only shower three days a week, and has very limited access to the telephone during the one hour he is permitted out of his cell each day.

She says these pretrial conditions are much harsher than those in other pretrial facilities where detainees can at least be out in the pod common areas for most of the day.

“Mr. Campbell’s detention has been similar to being in the segregated housing unit, except that in his case, he has done nothing to justify such harsh conditions of detention. Accordingly, a variance is appropriate to account for his disparate treatment,” she argued.

According to the defense, the defendant had previously owned and operated his own roofing business. She said that by 2004 he had over 1,000 employees with multi million dollar government contracts.

But after the recession hit, Campbell’s business went bankrupt and an alcohol problem contributed to his poor judgment and the current offense. However, defense said that he is not likely to re-offend.