A former contracting official with the Georgia Department of Defense has been indicted for allegedly awarding contracts in exchange for illegal kickbacks, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Thursday.
Raytosha Elliott, 33, of Atlanta, is accused of awarding numerous contracts to vendor companies created by her friends in exchange for 50 percent, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said.
“Ms. Elliott took advantage of the trust her job afforded her to award no-bid contracts by giving them to her friends,” Yates said in an emailed statement. “The defendants pocketed nearly $75,000 from their scheme for work that was never completed, and denied services meant to maintain facilities supporting those who serve this country.”
From May 2007 through April 2012, Elliott worked for the Georgia Department of Defense, the state agency charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the Georgia National Guard, Yates’ office said. Elliott worked as an engineering operations manager out of the Clay National Guard Center, located at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta.
Projects that cost less than $5,000 did not need to go through a competitive bidding process, allowing Elliott to award the contracts. According to investigators, Elliott claimed the work had been done when it had not.
Instead, Elliott and another co-defendant, Lakeysha Ellis, 36, of Atlanta, allegedly split the money awarded to contracts and spent it on personal items, including travel, meals, merchandise and liposuction for Ellis, Yates said.
The 10-count indictment charges Elliott and Ellis with two counts of conspiracy and seven counts of wire fraud, Yates’ office said. Elliott is also charged with accepting a bribe or kickback as a public official.
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