Man Sentenced for Orchestrating Vehicle Assault at Joint Base in Burlington County

A Pennsylvania construction company supervisor was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for extorting kickbacks from employees and giving the “go ahead” for the vehicular assault of a site manager critical of his company’s performance on a reconstruction project at Joint Base-McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington County, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced on Wednesday.

Richard Cottone, 40, of Windsor, Pennsylvania, previously pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to obtain kickbacks from public works employees and one count of travel in interstate commerce to commit a crime of violence.

Leonard Santos, 68, of Yardley, Pennsylvania, owned Sands Mechanical Inc. of Bristol, Pennsylvania, and Cottone is his son-in-law, according to documents filed in the case and statements made in court.

Between November of 2009 and September of 2010, Sands Mechanical was a subcontractor on the restoration and rehabilitation of the Marine Corps Reserve Training Center at the joint base.

Sands Mechanical provided HVAC and plumbing services. The general contractor was a company headquartered in Marriotsville, Maryland.

Santos, with the help of Cottone and 45-year-old Michael Featherston, of Bridgeton, demanded that certain employees kickback a percentage of their weekly paychecks or be fired.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) learned of this practice in February of 2010. It also learned employees were not being paid the prevailing wage in Burlington County.

Santos conceded that Sands Mechanical failed to pay the proper prevailing

wage to its employees and agreed to repay $80,000 to those deprived employees.

Santos paid settlement checks to employees who were owed back wages.

However, Cottone and Featherston warned those employees not to cash their settlement checks.

Instead, the employees endorsed those checks to Cottone, who cashed them at a nearby check cashing place. Cottone then gave the money to Santos.

Meanwhile, the general contractor was critical of work being performed by Sands Mechanical, which sometimes needed to be redone.

Cottone was told to physically incapacitate the site manager so that he could no longer supervise the work site.

Cottone then recruited an assailant to physically assault the site manager.

On June 10, 2010, Cottone gave the “go-ahead” to hit the site manager with a car.

Garrett Wiseman, 25, of Pennsylvania, was the driver of a car that struck the manager, who suffered serious injuries as a result.

There were two other people in the car with Wiseman when he hit the victim.

Wiseman has already been sentenced to five years in prison after admitting his role in the crime.

Santos pleaded guilty on April 14, 2014 and awaits sentencing. Featherston pleaded guilty on Jan. 10, 2012 and was sentenced to one year in prison on Feb. 10.

In addition to the prison term, Cottone will serve three years of supervised release.