Atlantic Beach man sentenced to three years, fines

John McCormick, an Atlantic Beach resident and a former planner and estimator for the Department of Public Works of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy who pleaded guilty in January to receiving bribes as part of a scheme to give contracts to specific companies was sentenced to three years in prison on Oct. 27.

While McCormick, 60, was working at the Merchant Marine Academy between 2000 and 2014, he solicited and submitted fake bids on contracts he oversaw to steer the awarding of maintenance and repair contracts to favored contractors who paid him bribes, as documented by previous court filings.

An unnamed construction company; a painting company, Colorworks Inc.; and another firm, Dinos Katsihitis Painting Corp., were identified in the complaint.

In October 2014, federal agents observed and recorded McCormick accepting a bribe from a contractor on the grounds of the academy. He was arrested shortly after.

Known as “Ten Percent McCormick” to contractors, he collected roughly $150,000 in kickbacks.

McCormick’s sentence also includes three years of supervised release for receiving a bribe as a public official, a $10,000 fine and forfeiture order of $78,000 for funds illegally received by him as part of the scheme.

“McCormick abused his position of trust by putting government contracts up for sale in order to line his pockets with bribe money,” Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Bridget Rohde stated in a news release. “This Office, together with our law enforcement partners, will vigorously investigate and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those who engage in public corruption that threatens the integrity of the contract procuring process.”