NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A Georgia businessman has been sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay more than $2.3 million in restitution in connection with a bribery case involving military transportation contracts.
Darrel Fitzpatrick pleaded guilty in January. Prosecutors said that in 2019 he agreed to pay kickbacks totaling $250,000 to a civilian employee of the United States Marines Corps Marine Forces Reserves Distribution Management Office in New Orleans.
Prosecutors said the bribery scheme resulted in contracts being corruptly awarded to businesses associated with Fitzpatrick.
Court documents filed this week in federal court in New Orleans show that Fitzpatrick was ordered to pay just over $2 million in restitution to the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. He was also ordered to pay over $300,000 in restitution to a charter bus company. Documents show a five-year prison sentence was handed down in September.
The former civilian employee pleaded guilty earlier in the year and was sentenced to 45 months in prison.
Fitzpatrick, who according to court records was born in 1990 and also went by the name Patrick Fields, is to report to prison in January.