A Jackson Health System employee was arrested for allegedly accepting bribes in exchange for construction contracts, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office announced in a news release on Tuesday.
Heriberto Martinez, 36, faces one count of unlawful compensation for accepting cash, football game tickets and airline tickets for travel with the vendor that was bidding for projects, prosecutors said.
Martinez is the former associate director of engineering for Jackson Health.
The vendor involved is Theodoros Xidis, an arrest warrant for Martinez details. Xidis is a Miami-Dade County-approved vendor who specializes in general construction and is the title manager of 11 active companies and eight inactive companies. He also manages two companies registered to his employees.
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Martinez was in charge of choosing vendors to carry out smaller construction projects within JHS and executing the actual contracts, officials said.
The bribery scheme was discovered after an “audit of his contract procurement activities aroused serious concerns,” the news release reads.
According to an investigation involving Miami-Dade Police and prosecutors from the state attorney’s office, Martinez would allegedly let Xidis know about a contract opening so they could “submit multiple bids to Martinez from the various so-called ‘independent’ businesses that the vendor owned/operated, all bidding for the same contract. This approach helped ensure that the vendor would be awarded the contract.”
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During 2020 and 2021, Martinez received large cash deposits on at least 19 occasions totaling $65,610, the state attorney’s office reported.
Text messages included in Martinez's arrest warrant show him and Xidis apparently discussing bids.
For instance, on May 3, 2021, Martinez allegedly texted Xidis, "Need a quote for the [Surgical Intensive Care Unit A] from [JAA Flooring, LLC]." Later, "Need it ASAP." "Quote Malaka you're going to miss the cutoff," another text reads.
Later that month, Martinez and Xidis also allegedly went back and forth in text messages about which company should place the bids.
In August of 2021, Martinez also allegedly texted Xidis: "And start switching your guys up at main" followed by, "Other contractors complaining they just see the same guys everywhere with different shirts."
Xidis is cooperating with criminal investigators, according to the state's attorney's office. It was not immediately clear if he would be facing charges.
“The actions of this former Jackson employee undermine our commitment to being good stewards of public dollars. We have a zero-tolerance policy for this type of egregious misconduct,” JHS CEO and President Carlos A. Migoya said.
Migoya added that the fact that the audit process detected the irregularity “is a testament to the strong controls we have in place to ensure that our team members are upholding the highest standards of integrity and accountability.”
“It is sadly disappointing to see that there are still public employees, who while working in their governmental positions, feel entitled to alleged bribes and gifts from vendors,” State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said. “These alleged gifts ultimately come from the pockets of Miami-Dade County taxpayers. Such actions are not mistakes or errors in judgment, they are crimes.”
