Bluegrass Training and Therapy Center

Louisville, KY 2013--2015 Workforce Development

DOJ DOJ_OIG Bribery Conspiracy

Penalty

$50,500

Outcome

Bluegrass Training and Therapy Center co-owners Clifford "Jay" Wilkinson and Erica Bowen were sentenced in February 2021 to home confinement and probation for paying $50,500 in bribes to a Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice social services specialist in exchange for steering youth placement contracts funded by DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention to their center.

Details

Bluegrass Training and Therapy Center — DOJ Grant Program Bribery (2013–2015)

Outcome: Bluegrass Training and Therapy Center (BTTC) co-owners Clifford "Jay" Wilkinson and Erica Bowen were sentenced in February 2021 to home confinement and two years of probation, jointly ordered to pay $48,258 in restitution, for paying $50,500 in bribes to a Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice social services specialist in exchange for youth placement contracts funded by DOJ grant funds.

BTTC was a now-defunct Louisville, Kentucky residential treatment center funded in part by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Between approximately August 2013 and July 2015, BTTC co-owners Wilkinson and Bowen paid $50,500 in bribe payments to Shannon Anson, a Kentucky DJJ Social Services Specialist, in exchange for Anson using her official DJJ position to steer committed juvenile placements to BTTC and influence contract awards.

Anson was separately sentenced on February 5, 2021 to 30 days of home confinement, two years of probation, and ordered to pay $50,500 in restitution for accepting the bribes. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Kentucky and investigated by DOJ's Office of Inspector General.

Primary Source: Founder, Former Employee Of The Now Defunct Bluegrass Training And Therapy Center, And Former State Of Kentucky Employee Face Multiple Charges Including Wire Fraud And Bribery

How Crucible Prevents This

BTTC paid bribes to a state social services specialist to steer juvenile justice placements — a direct subversion of the youth placement referral process. Crucible's vendor-referral conflict-of-interest hook requires all placement referral decisions to be documented with the referring official's financial disclosure, flagging any referral from an official who has received payments from the placement provider. A vendor payment monitoring control cross-referencing BTTC cash outflows against the identities of DJJ placement officials would have detected the bribery payments.

Source: Founder, Former Employee Of The Now Defunct Bluegrass Training And Therapy Center, And Former State Of Kentucky Employee Face Multiple Charges Including Wire Fraud And Bribery

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