The president of a Cleveland construction company who supervised the building of the Lorain County Justice Center pleaded guilty this morning to paying a bribe to win the contract.

Vincent Carbone, president of R.P. Carbone, entered the guilty pleas to conspiracy and money laundering charges that will send him to prison for at least six months, according to a plea bargain in the case.

Carbone has agreed to testify against former Commissioner Michael Ross, who is accused of accepting bribes for steering contracts in the construction of the Justice Center to those who paid bribes to one of his friends. Ross has denied any wrongdoing.

Carbone and Randall Gordon, the former president of the main architecture firm on the project, funneled money to Ross through Larry Jones, an Elyria businessman and Ross associate, according to prosecutors.

Gordon took a nearly identical plea deal to Carbone’s last year and served six months behind bars. He also paid the county $400,000.

Carbone will pay the county $314,000, which includes the cost of prosecution, overbilling and the $224,000 bribe he said he paid Jones – who is serving time for unrelated federal charges and the Ross bribery case and is also cooperating – to give Ross to ensure he would win the Justice Center contract.

For more details on this story, see Wednesday’s Chronicle.

 

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