Granite Bay Woman Charged in Bid Rigging

Sacramento, Calif. – A federal grand jury returned an indictment against John Brewer, 47, of San Francisco; Brent Vinch, 47, of Manorville, New York; and Loraine Dixon, 55, of Granite Bay, charging them with a bid-rigging conspiracy involving state contracts, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, Brewer and Vinch were the owners of and senior executives for a company called Expert Network Consultants, which submitted bids to the State of California for various government contracts. From 2008 through early 2012, it is alleged that Brewer, Vinch and Dixon conspired with each other and others to rig the State’s competitive bidding process by creating inflated bids for submission by co-conspirators to state contracting agencies in an effort to ensure that Expert Network Consultants received the contracts.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the California Attorney General’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jared C. Dolan and Matthew M. Yelovich are prosecuting the case.

If convicted, Brewer, Vinch, and Dixon face a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.