A former Tennessee Department of Corrections official has been charged with bid-rigging. (Getty Images)
A former Tennessee Department of Correction official is facing federal felony charges in connection with a scheme to direct a $123 million contract to a behavioral health services company in return for a job.
Federal prosecutors charged Wesley Olan Landers, 55, of Cumming, Georgia, and Jeffrey Scott Wells, 54, of Canton, Georgia, with conspiracy to obstruct justice and commit perjury, claiming the former state official provided information to Wells during bidding for a state contract.
The Tennessee Lookout previously reported that prison contractor Corizon filed a lawsuit in 2021 claiming that Landers, deputy commissioner and chief financial officer for the state Correction Department from 2012 until March 2020, spoke by email with a Centurion vice president, identified as “Company B” in the federal indictment, during the contracting process and wound up getting a “cushy” job with a Centurion affiliate.
Simultaneously, the Department of Correction raised the performance bond on mental health services to $118 million from $1 million, making it difficult for Corizon and other small companies to win state bids, as the company had done in 2012 and 2016, according to the lawsuit.
Corizon’s bid-rigging lawsuit against the state of Tennessee was dismissed with prejudice in early 2022.
According to federal prosecutors, Wells’ company created a position for Landers that wasn’t advertised to other candidates, nor were Landers or any others interviewed.
Missouri prison healthcare contract won by company accused of bid-rigging in Tennessee
The company fired both men after senior leaders found out Landers gave confidential state information to Wells in connection with the request for proposals.
Federal prosecutors say Landers and Wells agreed to cover up their deal and commit perjury. Landers started using a specialized program to delete emails with Wells that were under subpoena, and both men got new cell phones to discuss subpoenas and court appearances, prosecutors say.
The filing also claims they lied under oath in depositions about sharing documents and whether they communicated on WhatsApp.
If convicted, they could face up to five years in federal prison.
Corizon also filed a protest in 2021 when the state of Missouri gave a prison health-care contract to Centurion Health after it won a bid over four companies, even though its price was higher than the amount lawmakers appropriated for prison medical services, according to a previous Tennessee Lookout report.
Centurion was to be paid $174.6 million starting July 2021 for three years plus four optional years, with a total cost of $1.4 billion. The Missouri legislature had approved only $152.8 million last year for prison care, about $3 million more than in fiscal 2020.
In its complaint, Corizon claimed that Centurion failed to report the situation with the Tennessee contract, including the fact that some of its personnel involved in the Missouri bid, Landers and Wells, were fired over bid-rigging allegations, according to the report.
Centurion was previously connected to Centene, a company that tried to persuade state lawmakers to pass legislation enabling it to obtain a TennCare contract for managed care after it failed to win a contract bid. House Speaker Cameron Sexton co-sponsored the legislation, saying the change was needed to improve “openness” in TennCare contract decisions.
Former Democratic Rep. Jason Hodges of Clarksville called it a case of “bid-rigging.”
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