WASHINGTON - The former deputy associate director of Minerals Revenue Management at the Mineral Management Service of the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) pleaded guilty today to a felony violation of the post government employment restrictions, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich announced.
Milton K. Dial, 60, a resident of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty before Judge Robert C. Jones of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada to a single count information charging him with a felony violation of restrictions on former employees of the executive branch of the United States regarding communications with the intent to influence any department, agency or court of the U.S. government on behalf of another person.
According to the plea documents signed on May 21, 2008, Dial accepted a position as a subcontractor working for and representing a company in a contract with DOI approximately six months after retiring from DOI. Prior to retiring from DOI, Dial admitted he created the evaluation criteria for the bids for this same contract, had served on the evaluation committee that awarded the contract to the company and had served as the contracting officer's technical representative at DOI for the company's contract up until the time of his retirement. The company was a sole proprietorship owned by a friend and former colleague of Dial's.
On July 30, 2008, in the District of Columbia, the company's owner, Jimmy W. Mayberry, pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the conflict of interest law. Mayberry admitted in plea documents that he created the requirements for the same contract immediately before his retirement from DOI, knowing that he would bid on the contract immediately after his retirement. Mayberry's sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 14, 2008.
At sentencing, Dial faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and a term of supervised release following his release from prison. Sentencing has been scheduled for Dec. 15, 2008, before Judge Jones.
This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Dan Schwager and Peter Koski of the Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section, which is headed by Chief William M. Welch II. The case was investigated by the DOI Office of the Inspector General.
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