New Mexico Contractor Pleads Guilty to Falsifying a Bond and to Tax Evasion

OIG investigated allegations that Joseph Dubois filed a fraudulent surety bond to secure a contract at the Pine Hill School, Ramah Chapter of the Navajo Nation, NM. We found that the Ramah Navajo School Board contracted Dubois to renovate a building at the Pine Hill School. The contracts required him to obtain and provide a surety bond, but instead Dubois produced a fictitious surety bond that falsely appeared to be under the authority of a legitimate surety company. Dubois pled guilty to passing fictitious obligations and to tax evasion in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. He was sentenced to 27 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $410,550 in restitution to the Ramah Navajo School Board and the Internal Revenue Service.