Jail Official, Food Vendor Sentenced in Bribery Case

A judge sentenced a former Sheriff’s Department official and the businessman who bribed him to multiyear prison terms Monday, saying the scheme for which they were convicted was the worst example of governmental corruption he has seen during his 26 years on the bench.

Sheriff’s assistant food-service chief Fredrick Gaio and food vendor Rick Hodgin listened impassively as Superior Court Judge Curtis B. Rappe sentenced them to prison terms of five years and three years and four months respectively and ordered them to pay a total of $21,400 in restitution.

“This case is a serious breach of the public’s trust,� Rappe said. “You’ve got the fox taking the bribes; the person who is supposed to be watching out for the county’s interests.�

“I’ve been here [on the bench] since 1972, and I don’t recall any other� corruption cases of similar magnitude, said the veteran jurist.

Hodgin, 41, and Gaio, 52, were convicted in June of paying and taking more than $20,000 in bribes--in the form of cash and car lease payments--in exchange for steering millions of dollars in jail-food contracts to companies represented by Hodgin.

As an independent contractor, Hodgin made lucrative commissions on all of those contracts, and kept up the bribe scheme for more than two years, in part by taking advantage of Gaio’s gambling problem and voracious need for cash, said Rappe and prosecutors in the district attorney’s Special Investigations Division.

Gaio’s lawyer, Carmen Trutanich, asked for leniency despite a new state law that requires prison time for any public official convicted of taking bribes. He said the career sheriff’s employee “never intended� to break the law, and has “lost everything� since his arrest.

Hodgin’s lawyer asked that he be spared prison time entirely, because of his contributions to his community, and because he never actually bribed Gaio. Instead, lawyer Roger S. Shafer argued, Hodgin was trying to help Gaio by providing him with much-needed money in the form of loans and car payments that he would ultimately have to repay.

“It was a stupid, stupid move on his part; he didn’t gain anything by it,� Shafer said.

But prosecutors said Hodgin did get significant commissions from the conspiracy, and that the county paid dearly for it in the form of higher-priced goods for the massive jail system--at least $150,000 in just one contract for vegetables, according to documents made public Monday.

The relationship between the two men was disclosed in a Times investigative series two years ago, which launched criminal investigations by county auditors and, ultimately, the Sheriff’s Department itself.

The probes showed that the county was paying too much for many food items and buying some products it didn’t need.

Food companies that Hodgin represented also cut corners after winning contracts, shipping substandard products with Gaio’s knowledge, including repeated loads of green and probably tainted meat, prosecutors alleged Monday.

“Clearly the court recognizes the atmosphere of corruption that permeates the relationship between the Sheriff’s Department and Mr. Hodgin and the companies he was involved with,� Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Rosenthal said. He asked Rappe to sentence each of the men to the maximum sentence. “Mr. Hodgin appeared to have Mr. Gaio . . . in his pocket.�

A visibly irritated Rappe agreed, and gave the men almost all the prison time that prosecutors requested.

“Your client was giving a bribe, plain and simple,� Rappe said, cutting Hodgin’s lawyer off at one point. “His apology basically comes down to saying, ‘I’m sorry I was caught.’ �

As for Gaio, Rappe said he not only lied repeatedly to county investigators, he also perjured himself during the trial and then lied to probation officers who were trying to determine what kind of sentence to recommend.