Former Mount Vernon schools purchasing agent charged with bribery
By DESIREE GRAND
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: December 4, 2007)
MOUNT VERNON -The former head of purchasing for the city school district has been arraigned on a bribery charge, accused of taking cash to set up a $1 million contract with a copier company.
Arthur Rose, 48, of 22 Pease St. was arraigned yesterday on one count of third-degree bribe receiving, a felony, District Attorney Janet DiFiore announced.
Rose was released on $15,000 bail and is due in court Dec. 11. He faces a maximum of seven years in state prison.
The District Attorney's Office said Rose accepted a bribe of $3,500 from a sales representative of Ricoh Americas Corporation between June 21, 2005, and July 13, 2005. In exchange, the complaint alleges, the copier company was to receive a five-year contract from the district worth in excess of $1 million for 73 copiers, support products and related services.
In August of that year, the district awarded the contract to Ricoh based on Rose's recommendations, the District Attorney's Office reported.
The district suspended Rose from his administrative post in 2006.
District officials did not return calls seeking comment. Rose could not be reached for comment.
The Investigations Division of the state Comptroller's Office assisted in the investigation.
Russell Marchetta, a spokesman for Ricoh, said the company cooperated in the investigation.
Marchetta directed further questions to Christopher Shaw, the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case.
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