KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Parkville, Missouri, man pleaded guilty Monday after he was charged in two separate federal cases for conspiracy to commit wire and major program fraud and filing a false tax return.
Patrick Michael Dingle, 50, was the operations manager for Zieson Construction Company in North Kansas City where the fraud occurred, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.
Dingle admitted, through pleading guilty, that he conspired with Matthew C. McPherson, 45, and other co-consprirators to fraudulently obtain contracts through federal programs that award the contracts to firms owned by minorities, veterans and service-disabled veterans.
McPherson pleaded guilty in June of 2019 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and major program fraud and is awaiting sentencing.
Dingle and others controlled and operated the company which was formed with Stephon Ziegler, an African-American service-disabled veteran, who was listed as the nominal owner.
"Ziegler signed Zieson checks when requested to do so, signed bids for government jobs when requested to do so and served as a courier of checks and invoices when requested to do so," the release said. "Ziegler did not participate in any way in the management and control of either day-to-day operations or long-term decision-making for Zieson."
Zieson Construction Company received approximately 199 federal contracts from the federal programs from 2009 to 2018, and the federal government paid the company about $335 million for these contracts.
In the false tax returns guilty plea, Dingle admitted to claiming $799,425 in "fraudulent business expenses" on his 2016 tax return, which resulted in the government losing approximately $349,784. He also admitted to filing false tax returns for four years between 2013-2016, which resulted in a $615, 847 loss.
The sentencing hearing has not been scheduled, but Dingle must pay restitution to the government "in the total amount of federal tax loss as determined by the court at sentencing," according to the release. He could also receive up to eight years in prison without the possibility of parole.
