July 7th, 2006

It has been revealed that a former Bridgeport city employee has pleaded guilty to charges of accepting a bribe in exchange for awarding an asbestos removal contract to an environmental engineering company. The former employee was responsible for the hiring of contractors for this type of work within the city.

Forty-eight-year-old Frederick Tynes, from Fairfield, could face a decade in prison for his crime, and could also be fined up to a quarter of a million dollars. Sentencing is due to take place towards the end of September following the man’s plea of guilty to the federal charges.

The fifty-year-old owner of a contracting firm, Engineering Systems Inc., told officials over a month ago that he paid the employee $8,000, and in exchange Tynes awarded the $130,000 contract to his company.

Reports about the incident came to light last month, and after this information had been revealed in the press, Tynes resigned from his post as a city employee.