Syracuse, NY - The Cayuga County man who ran food services for New York State prisons steered contracts to favored vendors, who in return, treated him to steakhouse dinners and donated money and food for annual staff parties, according to a report released today by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Inspector General Joseph Fisch. The report said food director Howard...
Syracuse, NY - The Cayuga County man who ran food services for New York State prisons steered contracts to favored vendors, who in return, treated him to steakhouse dinners and donated money and food for annual staff parties, according to a report released today by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Inspector General Joseph Fisch.
The report said food director Howard Dean, of Locke, exploited his position of power to “garner every personal advantage he could obtain from the state.”
Dean, 64, retired in 2008 from the Food Production Center in Rome, where he oversaw a $55 million annual budget. The center cooks and freezes food and ships it to all state prisons, feeding 62,000 inmates in 12 counties.
DiNapoli and Fisch revealed the details of their investigation in a report released today and referred it to the Oneida County District Attorney and the State Commission on Public Integrity for possible criminal charges.
Dean was the subject of a state comptroller investigation earlier this year that charged he falsified hotel invoices, faked travel records and submitted fraudulent timesheets – duping the state and its taxpayers out of $500,000. Investigators said Dean submitted time sheets for five-day work weeks, even though he admitted he didn’t work a single Friday for 17 years, they said.
Dean’s attorney, Dennis Sedor of Auburn, said he has been negotiating a resolution with the Oneida County District Attorney’s Office.
“Obviously, Howard is a target of the investigation. I’m confident he is not the only person involved. There are others, both above and below him. This wasn’t done in a vacuum, in isolation,” Sedor said.
“We’re still in the negotiating stage as far as what will ultimately arise from this investigation,” said Sedor, who declined to talk about specific allegations against Dean.
Dean declined to comment today when reached at home.
The new investigation charges that Dean and other Department of Corrections staff were provided free meals for 13 years by at least two vendors who had $2.5 million a year in corrections contracts. Global Food Industries and Good Source Inc. provided free dinners for Dean and his co-workers at Joel’s Steakhouse in Verona. The dinners ranged from $25 to $55 per person, investigators said.
The Food Center purchases food from Sysco Food Services, which has a statewide contract and has been the primary food vendor for state agencies since 1995. Investigators say Dean directed Sysco Food Services and one other contractor to purchase products from the vendors that were providing him with free dinners.
Investigators said they found no evidence that the state’s purchases from Global Food and Good Source were based on open competition. In fact, the report says Global Food Industries was even given information about an ingredient essential to the production of cheese sauce the food center wanted to use. Other vendors were not given the secret ingredient and Global Food got the job, the report said.
The report alleges Dean and his staff solicited free food and donations from Sysco Food Services, Good Source and other vendors for an annual Christmas party and a three-day annual picnic. Any leftover money was deposited in an employee benefit fund and used for employee benefits, including morning bagels.
The entire staff of the Department of Corrections and their families, about 30,000 people, were invited to the summer picnic and more than 200 attended. Invitations went to top managers, who apparently did not ask who was paying for the food. For 13 years, they held the picnic at a campground near Rome.
Food, beverages, camp ground entry fees and parking were free for employees.
The report questioned whether the behavior was condoned by the highest levels of management. One supervisor said he left Dean alone because the inmates were not complaining about the food.
When Dean retired, he made a salary of $112,000. He qualifies for an annual pension of $57,381, DiNapoli said.
Contact Michelle Breidenbach at mbreidenbach@syracuse.com or 470-3186.