In 1986, Robert Moultrie opened a food facility engineering firm with five employees and a big ambition.

By 2008, Facility Group had morphed into a well-oiled building machine with nearly 450 employees overseeing construction of jails, schools, courthouses and industrial plants. It has nearly doubled in size since 2006 alone, billing nearly $440 million a year.

In recent years, Moultrie and Facility Group seemed to be everywhere. Moultrie held political fund-raisers and high-end charity benefits at his lavish home in south Cobb County. He wielded credibility and influence in political spheres, aided by well-connected political figures who work for him, such as retired Cobb Sheriff Bill Hutson and state Rep. Earl Ehrhart, who is chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee and a marketing executive at the firm.

But in March, the company's reputation took a hit when a judge in Mississippi unsealed a federal corruption indictment against Moultrie, his firm and two other Facility Group officials.

Prosecutors allege they schemed to make illegal campaign contributions in 2003 to "influence and reward" an unnamed public official to get a contract managing construction of a beef processing plant, funded by government loans and grants. Then, prosecutors say, they fraudulently billed work to retrieve that money.

Moultrie has pleaded not guilty. "The charges are dramatically exaggerated," said W. Ennis Parker Jr., Facility Group's CEO. He insisted there was "no quid pro quo" in getting contracts for political contributions and that investigators misread as fraudulent how the company bills hours.

Parker acknowledged the firm reimbursed employees for campaign donations. He called it a "huge mistake." Reimbursing other donors to circumvent campaign donation limits is illegal under federal law.

Moultrie, 67; Chief Operating Officer Nixon Cawood, 58; and Executive Vice President Charles K. Morehead, 57, face trial in August. The campaign donations mentioned in the indictment match up with those listed to Ronnie Musgrove when he was governor of Mississippi. Musgrove has not been indicted, and the manager of his current campaign for U.S. Senate told The Associated Press that Musgrove had nothing to do with awarding the beef plant contracts.

The case suddenly put a cloud of uncertainty over a company on the go.

In Chatham County, officials abruptly dropped the firm as designer of a $110 million jail.

Near home, Cobb officials asked for an audit of the $1.16 billion in school building projects Facility Group has managed over the past decade. The work has been funded by a special sales tax, and officials want to regain public confidence before asking voters this fall for a five-year tax extension.

And commissioners in Madison County, N.C., have backed off naming Facility Group as the designer and architect of a jail there.

"It would be difficult for a government body to do business with them right now given their circumstances," former County Attorney Larry Leake said.

Parker said a few clients have backed away from the firm. Parker is heading the firm while Moultrie has stepped away from his duties.

"There's a certain amount of anxiety," he acknowledged. "We've established a management structure that can carry through no matter what happens. We can weather the storm."

Chuck Clay, a former state senator whose Marietta law firm represents Cobb schools, expressed disbelief at the charges: "The company has been a very upstanding and outstanding corporation."

He described Moultrie, a Georgia Tech civil engineering graduate from the small town of Woodbury, as "warm and gregarious" although "not a hail-fellow well met."

"He's ambitious. He knows he has to be in charities, in politics and community events," said Clay, who has had campaign fund-raisers at Moultrie's home.

But Clay said Moultrie's political involvement "wasn't heavy-handed."

"They were a local team," Clay said. "Performance is the best advertising you can get —- especially when it's in your own backyard and in a high-growth area."

From its start, the firm branched out aggressively. In 1990, Facility Group raised eyebrows when it bid $28,500 to design the new Powder Springs police station —- half the price of an experienced competitor. It got the job.

In 1994, it formed Facility Justice Group and went after managing the Cobb jail expansion. Bill Byrne, then the Cobb Commission chairman, loudly complained about the firm then, saying it drove up costs.

He recently pointed out how Facility Group was working for free to draw up plans for proposed construction to ready the Cobb school system for this year's referendum on an anticipated $800 million in sales tax.

"They come in and say, 'We'll do the preliminary work for free,' and people like free," Byrne said. "They do all the work and know what the clear costs are. Then they come in with a good bid."

An example of criticism that the firm tries to get an inside track on projects was seen last year in Glynn County, when an administrator wrote a memo questioning a proposal for bids drawn up by Facility Group concerning a jail expansion. "We would be cutting out any firms who do not offer the same type of services as does this firm," she wrote.

Parker said Facility Group projects often come in under budget and the preliminary work is not to limit competition.

"We're trying to help a potential client on how to ask for service," Parker said.

The firm's forte is combining several disciplines, from drawing up schemes to designing and managing construction projects. Academic studies say this one-stop process is cheaper and less troublesome than bidding separately for architects and a general contractor. Others argue the design-build model lacks some independent oversight.

Byrne said having Ehrhart on staff, one of Georgia's most powerful politicians, helps drive business to the firm.

"Earl Ehrhart's closest political friend and ally is [House Speaker] Glenn Richardson, that's a powerful group they put together," Byrne said. "That's how they grew so fast."

Ehrhart, a Powder Springs Republican whose party was in the minority when he started working for the firm 13 years ago, said his job responsibilities "isolate me from that implication. At the same time, my public positions on controversial issues have sometimes resulted in the company losing work.

"There is no business opportunity worth giving someone the ability to question my integrity."

Cherokee County Sheriff Roger Garrison was so impressed by Facility Group's work managing construction of a $33 million jail that he allowed the company to post a photo of himself, with a ringing endorsement, on its Web site.

"They delivered the product early and under budget," Garrison said in an interview. "We're just a satisfied customer."

However, he returned $3,000 in contributions from Moultrie and other Facility Group associates so he wouldn't be "distracted" in his upcoming election.

Other sheriffs have come to bat for the Facility Group. Last year, in bidding to design the new Chatham County jail, it was ranked third by a committee of county engineering, construction and law administrators. But Sheriff Al St. Lawrence told county commissioners he thought Facility Group was the best, and the commission immediately hired the firm.

"There was a move afoot to go past our professional staff recommendations to go to a lower-ranked firm," said Commissioner Patrick Shay, who cast the only "no" vote. He thought it would be "hypocritical" to ignore those recommendations.

Matt Towery, a former legislator from Cobb and CEO of InsiderAdvantage, a media and polling firm, said Moultrie seemed to come out of nowhere a few years ago.

Moultrie hired Towery's firm to coach and help them become "big players in the community," he said. "They had tremendous focus —- it was to build their business and establish themselves in the community."

Moultrie and his wife, Cheryl, had already thrown themselves into charity work, heading up the 2000 Cobb Heart Ball and bringing in more than the $500,000 goal.

Towery said he recommended the Moultries get involved with the Swan House Ball, a premier social event and fund-raiser for the Atlanta History Society. "They had never heard of it, but a few years later, she's the head of it," he said.

Moultrie also threw himself into political charity. Federal election records show Moultrie gave $65,000 in the past decade to candidates in federal elections and his wife gave $25,600.

Moultrie has also been generous to candidates in local and state races, and some of those contributions are causing controversy.

Paulding County Chairman Jerry Shearin last year received $10,000 in contributions from Facility Group interests. The county had earlier awarded Facility Group the contract to design and build a $65 million government and court complex.

But residents in Paulding have asked Shearin to give the donations to charity. Shearin said he has conferred with more veteran politicians for advice, such as U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, who has also received money from Moultrie, and he's going to see what happens in court.

"The Facility Group gives money to everybody," Shearin said.

Federal prosecutors allege Moultrie crossed the line in July 2003, when he held a fund-raiser for the Mississippi official at his Cobb home and then reimbursed employees for their donations.

A week later, records show Moultrie created Facility Group PAC. In the next two months, the PAC gave Musgrove an additional $45,000. The PAC has given more than $160,000 to candidates since its creation, according to campaignmoney.com.

"Most companies in business today make political contributions," Parker said. "It indicates we have strong feelings."

Asked whether the company was stopping the practice, he said, "I don't think we'll be asked for many contributions going forward."

TIMELINE

1986: Robert Moultrie starts Facility Constructors Inc. to design, engineer and market food facilities.

1987: Facility Program Management is created to expand the company's scope.

1994: Facility Justice Group Inc. is incorporated to design detention centers and goes after a contract to expand the Cobb County jail.

1998: Cobb voters approve a special sales tax to fund building of schools in the growing county. Facility Group begins a 10-year relationship with the district, managing $1.16 billion in projects.

2002: Moultrie is chairman of Cobb Chamber of Commerce. Cherokee County jail is completed.

2003: Moultrie and Facility Group officials allegedly scheme to influence a Mississippi official to get a contract managing construction of a beef plant.

2007: Cobb Performing Arts Centre is completed.

2008: Federal corruption indictments against the firm, Moultrie and two other officials are unsealed.