Ex-Army colonel convicted in helicopter contracting scheme

By

The Associated Press

In this 2010 photo provided by the U.S. Army, Col. Norbert Vergez, center, receives his charter to manage the Project Office for Non-Standard Rotary Wing Aircraft (NSRWA) from the Program Executive Officer for Aviation, now Maj. Gen. William Crosby, right, and Randy Harkins, former deputy project manager NSRWA. On Tuesday, April 7, 2015, Vergez pleaded guilty to negotiating his post-military employment with a helicopter company that did business with the Defense Department office he managed. (AP Photo/U.S. Army)

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Federal prosecutors say a former U.S. Army colonel who oversaw a contracting program has pleaded guilty to providing false statements and conflict of interest.

Authorities said Monday that 49-year-old Norbert Vergez managed a program at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville that was responsible for contracts involving helicopter procurement.

Prosecutors say Vergez had a subordinate create a backdated document to get a contractor to authorize a $3.67 million payment to a subcontractor. Authorities also say Vergez didn’t disclose in ethics forms that a representative from the subcontracting company had given his wife a Rolex watch. Prosecutors say Vergez also didn’t disclose that he accepted a job offer from a private company and had been given a check for $30,000 from that company.

A sentencing date hasn’t been set.