NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Two NYCHA building superintendents pleaded guilty Thursday to accepting bribes in exchange for awarding no-contract bids at the complexes they worked at, federal prosecutors said.
In February 2020, 58-year-old Leroy Gibbs was serving as the superintendent of the Douglass Houses on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Gibbs solicited and accepted about $2,000 in bribes from an unidentified informant in exchange for awarding no-bid contracts to the informant worth about $9,950 from NYCHA for work at the building.
While serving as the assistant resident buildings superintendent at the Ft. Independence St.-Heath Ave. Houses in the Bronx’s Kingsbridge neighborhood, 45-year-old Julio Figueroa also accepted bribes. Figueroa took about $6,000 in bribes between July 2021 and August 2022 from an informant in exchange for dishing out no-bid contracts totaling about $46,622 from NYCHA for work at the complex.
“Leroy Gibbs and Julio Figueroa betrayed the trust placed in them by the New York City Housing Authority by accepting bribes in exchange for awarding no-bid contracts,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. “Gibbs and Figueroa now stand convicted of federal felonies and will face sentencing for their crimes.”
Gibbs, who is from Bay Shore, New York, previously pleaded guilty on Oct. 7 to solicitation and receipt of a bribe. He will be sentenced on Jan. 25, 2023.
Figueroa, from East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty Thursday to the same charges and will be sentenced on Feb.9, 2023.
They each face up to ten years in prison when they are sentenced.
Under their plea agreements, both men will also have to pay restitution and forfeit money. Gibbs agreed to give up $2,000 and pay $2,000 in restitution. Gibbs agreed to forfeit $6,000 and pay $6,000 restitution.
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