A former NFL player who played in Washington during the early 1980s has pleaded guilty to defrauding Metro of more than $300,000.
Brian Carpenter, 59, of Centreville, Virginia, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud Friday, the office of Virginia U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger said in a statement. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced Dec. 15.
Carpenter owned and operated the Flintstone Group, a janitorial contractor which bought, sold and distributed products. Prosecutors said two Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority assistant superintendents whom Carpenter knew let him use their WMATA credit cards to charge the agency for supplies that he never, or only partially, delivered between 2013 and 2015. Carpenter pocketed the money, giving some to the workers in exchange for letting him use their cards, the statement said.
Carpenter ran the purchases through 10 different companies to avoid tipping off investigators to large purchases, and gave the Metro workers and inspectors fake invoices to make it look as though the products had been delivered, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
One of the Metro workers, Kirby Smith, pleaded guilty in January to a charge of supplementation of a government official’s salary. He has agreed to pay $174,054 in restitution.
Carpenter, a defensive back, played for Washington as well as the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills, between 1982 and 1984. He played in Washington’s 38-9 loss to the Los Angeles Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII in January 1984. Some of the products he sold had names that harkened to his football days, including Blitz and DG-28, a reference to Hall of Fame teammate Darrell Green.
