Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly
ABINGDON (AP) Three people have been sentenced to federal prison for their roles in a fraud scheme involving a southwest Virginia utility authority.
The defendants sentenced Thursday included two former vice presidents at the Bristol Virginia Utilities Authority and a contractor.
Sixty-one-year-old Robert James Kelley of Lexington was sentenced to 2½ years in prison and ordered to pay $330,510 in restitution.
Forty-four-year-old David Copeland of Bristol was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay $144,000 in restitution.
The third defendant, 63-year-old Michael Clark of Colbert, Georgia, was sentenced to eight months in prison and ordered to pay $110,065 in restitution.
The punishment was for kickbacks and work that was never performed.
All three were sentenced in U.S. District Court in Abingdon. A fourth defendant has yet to be sentenced.
