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Last updated on Thursday, October 30, 2014
(BLOOMINGTON) - The trials of three men accused of perpetrating a concrete scheme that diverted more than $800,000 from the City of Bloomington coffers and into their pockets have been postponed until spring.
Justin Wykoff of Bedford, a longtime engineering project manager for the city, and Lawrence County father-and-son team Roger and Zachary Hardin, who owned Reliable Concrete, were charged in March with the street and sidewalk paving conspiracy.
Federal investigators have not found the nearly quarter of a million dollars that was Wykoff's share in what authorities claim was a nearly three-year conspiracy to embezzle taxpayer money.
Federal agents arrested all three men in March and charged them with a plot overcharging the city for concrete work and then splitting the cash among themselves.
Each man is charged with 24 counts of embezzlement, one count of conspiracy to commit a federal crime, 10 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Their trials in U.S. District Court were scheduled for Nov. 17, but have been postponed to March 23. They could be postponed again; a final pretrial conference in the case is set for Feb. 25 before federal court judge Tanya Walton Pratt.
Prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of personal property involved in the alleged conspiracy, so if convicted, the government may confiscate "any property, real or personal, involved in these offenses," as well as any property derived from proceeds of the crimes.
They also will seek reimbursement of cash the men received as profits from the alleged conspiracy.
Wykoff posted bond and is living with his girlfriend and probation officers are monitoring Wykoff with a GPS device.
Co-defendant 51-year-old Roger Hardin of Bedford remains in federal detention in Kentucky, because he was on parole after serving prison time for burglary and drug convictions in Lawrence County and because investigators say he tried to conceal his involvement in this new crime.
Zachary,who has no criminal record, was released from custody a day after his arrest.
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