A retired Fulton County jailer was sentenced to more than eight years in prison on Monday for his role in a kickback scheme involving a $3.3 million jail expansion project.
Ricky Parnell, 59, of Hickman received a 97-month sentence from Senior Judge Thomas B. Russell at U. S. District Court in Paducah, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Kentucky.
Parnell previously pleaded guilty to Honest Services Fraud and multiple counts of Wire Fraud for using his official position to enrich himself by soliciting and accepting gifts and payments from defendant contractors, in exchange for influencing the Fulton County Fiscal Court to award the defendants contracts on the project.
He admitted directing Ronald D. Armstrong, of Dresden, Tennessee; Jimmy Boyd, of South Fulton, Tennessee; Michael Homra, of Fulton, Kentucky; and Daniel C. Larcom, of Union City, Tennessee, to intentionally overcharge Fulton County for services and supplies provided as part of jail projects.
Parnell presented the inflated invoices and contracts to the Fulton County treasurer for payment to the defendants and their respective companies, prosecutors said. In turn, the co-defendants used the excess proceeds to pay kickbacks, in the form of both cash and checks, to Parnell, who received at least $175,000 in money and other items.
Armstrong, Homra and Larcom also took steps to cover up their activities and dealings with Parnell, including using cash to provide Parnell with kickbacks, structuring withdrawals from banks to use for these kickbacks and creating false and inflated invoices for services and materials to satisfy the cash demanded by Parnell.
“Public corruption simply cannot be tolerated,” said U. S. Attorney John Kuhn. “Corrupt public officials erode the fairness and integrity of our public institutions, and they undermine the public’s trust in our government. I hope this conviction and restitution will reassure the public that the Department of
Justice will hold elected officials to the highest standards of honesty and integrity – and that we will seek repayment of every tax dollar spent corruptly by public officials.”
The five men were also ordered to make $154,000 in restitution for the acts, which Kuhn’s office said happened between April 2015 and August 2016. Parnell and Armstrong are responsible for $100,000 of that amount.
Parnell served as Fulton County jailer from 1990 until his retirement last year.
(Photo courtesy of WPSD.com)
