Danvers Man Arrested After Federal Probe Into Kickback Scheme

DANVERS, MA -- Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment against a Danvers man Thursday charging him with multiple counts of fraud against a large facilities services company with offices in Greater Boston. Jose Avila, who also went by the name Joe Avila, 64, was arrested and scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on one count of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud, five counts of honest services mail fraud, and one count of wire fraud.

According to court documents, Avila was the general manager of a temporary labor company and paid bribes and kickbacks to Lou Amaral between September 2013 and May 2014 to have lucrative temporary labor contracts steered towards his company, which was not named. Amaral has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and tax evasion, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 9.

If convicted, Avila faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 on each count.

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Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).