Ex-Head of Virginia Nonprofit Pleads Guilty to Bribery

The former head of a nonprofit that provides transportation to Northern Virginia residents with disabilities pleaded guilty Monday to federal bribery charges that caused $380,000 in losses to the U.S. government. 

Mark McGregor, the former CEO of Virginia Regional Transit (VRT), pleaded guilty to approving false labor invoices over a period of eight years, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia said Monday in a statement. 

Prosecutors said McGregor, of Charles Town, West Virginia, received approximately $190,000 in kickback payments from the scheme.

McGregor, 63, approved fraudulent labor invoices submitted by his co-conspirator, Thomas Ahalt, then the president of Mobile Auto Truck Repair in Purcellville, Virginia, which provided repair services to VRT, prosecutors said.

From Jan. 2007 to Dec. 2015, Ahalt submitted and VRT paid about $380,000 in fraudulent labor charges to Mobile Auto, while McGregor took the kickbacks, according to prosecutors. 

VRT provides paratransit services to Northern Virginia residents "unable to use regular fixed route public transportation services because of their disabilities," the group's website says.

The group receives local, state and federal funding. Some of the stolen funds came from the Federal Transit Administration.

Ahalt pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in April. He is set to be sentenced June 2. McGregor is expected to be sentenced Sept. 9. 

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