NC couple must give up Cadillac, $1.3 million in Fort Bragg bribery case, feds say
A couple has to give up a Cadillac and pay the government more than $7 million after they pleaded guilty to accepting bribes in exchange for military contracts at an Army base in North Carolina.
Morris Cooper, 63, a former buyer in the maintenance division at Fort Bragg, was sentenced to one year and five months in prison on charges he conspired to defraud the United States and stole government property, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina said in a news release. His wife, 53-year-old Beverly Cooper, was sentenced to five months’ probation.
A judge ordered the couple to pay $6.3 million in restitution and forfeit the $1.3 million they reportedly made from the scheme. The order also requires they give up a Cadillac Escalade, Jeep Wrangler and cash from various bank accounts.
Defense attorneys representing the Coopers did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on Thursday.
“Bribery and fraud have no place in the government contracting system,” Frank Robey, director of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit, said in the release. “This sentencing shows that we will not allow this sort of subterfuge to occur and those that do attempt it will be caught.”
Morris Cooper worked in the Department of Public Works at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville as a buying agent for the operations and maintenance division, where he was in charge of purchasing heating, ventilating and air conditioning parts, prosecutors said.
From 2011 to 2019, the government said he used his position to steer contracts to vendors that offered cash and gifts to him and his wife. The cash payments the vendors made to the Coopers ranged from $1,700 to $8,000 on any given order, according to court documents.
Morris Cooper is also accused of inflating the price of goods to ensure bigger profits for the vendors and larger payouts for him and his wife.
At one point in 2016, prosecutors said he purchased three electrical parts for $755 each — a more than 300% markup from the market price of less than $100 a piece.
Prosecutors said Morris Cooper additionally allowed competing bids from companies owned by the same person, which he later cited as the reason for the price of the purchase agreement.
A grand jury indicted the Coopers on bribery and theft of government property charges in August 2019. They pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal government property and receive bribes in September. Morris Cooper also pleaded guilty to stealing government property.
