News

October 16, 2009

Biz owner charged with bribing

Feds: Objective was to get W-B Area contract

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
Jennifer Learn-Andes on Facebook   |   @TLJenLearnAndes on Twitter

Harveys Lake resident Richard Emanski has agreed to plead guilty to supplying and installing free carpeting in the home of a Wilkes-Barre Area School Board member in exchange for a contract benefiting his business, federal authorities announced Thursday.

Emanski, 65, is listed as president of the Swoyersville-based King Glass & Paint.

Wilkes-Barre Area School District paid the company $953,713 from August 2004 through April 2009, mostly for carpet installation, records show.

The federal charges do not name the school board member but say the board member was charged by the U.S. Attorney earlier this year, which leaves Brian Dunn, Jim Height and Frank Pizzella.

However, Pizzella was not on the school board during the period in which the carpet was offered, which leaves Height and Dunn.

Height and Dunn have been accused of corruption. Height agreed to plead guilty and resigned from the board. Dunn awaits a hearing and has kept his seat on the board but has not attended any meetings.

Neither could be reached for comment Thursday.

Emanski was charged with corrupt payment of a reward for official action.

According to the federal charges, Emanski “knowingly, intentionally and corruptly” offered to give the school board member carpeting and installation services worth $1,000 to $5,000 between Nov. 1, 2004 and Jan. 1, 2005.

The offer was intended to influence and reward the board member in the awarding of a school district carpeting contract benefiting Emanski’s business, authorities say.

Sentencing guidelines call for eight to 14 months in prison, though a judge may sentence Emanski to up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine.

Emanski’s attorney, Carl Poveromo, declined comment Thursday. Emanski has refused to respond to numerous messages in recent months.

Much of the carpet installed by King Glass at Wilkes-Barre Area was purchased from Shaw Industries through a state bidding program called the Pennsylvania Education Joint Purchasing Council.

Several school officials have said the board did not seek bids or quotes from several businesses for the carpet installation to ensure the district received the best price.

Shaw regional sales representative Ron Royer said in April that his company doesn’t dictate which local installers must be hired by government agencies.

The school district may seek quotes or bids for installation and then make sure that Shaw is comfortable with that supplier’s work and willingness to honor warranties, Royer said.

“Basically the contract is open to any legitimate dealer in Pennsylvania. Nobody is excluded. If a school district wants to use a certain one, the local dealer just needs to be authorized by us,” Royer said at the time. "Shaw has a wide range of dealers. We don’t come back to a school district and say, ‘You have to use this one.’ ”

Wilkes-Barre Area’s payments to King Glass also included $21,677 to inspect the painting being done by another contractor at Meyers High School in 2005 and 2006.

Height has said he thought the installation was part of a state bid contract, but he was not sure of the specifics. Height has acknowledged that Emanski was his friend and said he’s been part of a group of six or seven friends who have traveled to Las Vegas with Emanski. Height had declined to name the others in the group but said he has proof that he paid his own way.

The FBI has also requested invoices on King Glass from the Pittston Area School District, which has paid the company $243,010 from July 2004 through April 2009. All but $470 of that work was related to carpeting.

Pittston Area School Board member Terry Best has said that he has raised concerns because the district, in at least some cases, bought carpet tiles through the state-bid program but did not bid out the actual installation.

The Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center, which is also under federal investigation, has paid King Glass $196,321 from July 2004 through April 2009 for carpeting and glass, according to records.

Wilkes-Barre Area Superintendent Jeff Namey said Thursday that the district still has leftover carpet and relies on in-house staff to install it in small areas.

“We’re still installing it as needed. We just put some in downstairs in the purchasing office,” Namey said.

Namey said he has “absolutely no idea” which board member is connected to the Emanski charges. He also said he has not had any new carpet installed in his home in recent years.

Board member Christine Katsock declined comment.

Board member Lynn Evans, who has been recovering at home following surgery and has missed several board meetings, said the carpet purchases and most installation were done before she was elected two years ago. She said she has had no new carpeting installed.

Board member Maryann Toole said she had new carpeting installed in the past few years, but it was purchased from Carpet Clearance in Wilkes-Barre.

Toole said she did not know which board member the federal charges referred to and could not recall any individual board members advocating for the selection of King Glass & Paint.

Times Leader staff writer Mark Guydish contributed to this report.

Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.

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