Richmond DPW employee charged in fraud scheme

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) -A Richmond woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to using her position within the city’s Department of Public Works (DPW) to steer governmental contract awards towards herself and her co-conspirators.

According to court documents, Shaun Lindsey, 53, is a Senior Administrative Technician at DPW. Before she was placed on administrative leave in Feb. 2022, Lindsey was responsible for managing and obtaining approval for DPW procedures with outside vendors. 

From at least 2018 through 2021, Lindsey and her co-conspirators owned and operated straw companies to bid on DPW work. Lindsey and her co-conspirators designated and approved DPW work to be performed by these straw companies.

In some instances, Lindsey would indicate work was done on paper even if it wasn’t true. In other cases, the work was done by DPW employees, not contracted vendors. Lindsey and her co-conspirators sometimes subcontracted the work for profit upon winning the DPW work.

Lindsey also once steered a $28,700 contract to her boyfriend. Finally, within days of Lindsey’s straw company winning work, she sent checks for some funds to a senior DPW leader.

In all, Lindsey and her co-conspirators fraudulently caused DPW to disburse at least $603,701 in funds to companies owned by Lindsey and her co-conspirators, generating $226,767 in loss for DPW.

She is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 29, facing a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

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