Ex-NC county official sentenced in bribery scandal. He got pricey meals, trips, feds say.
A former North Carolina county official was sentenced to prison on Wednesday in a bribery and kickback scheme that scored him free high-end meals, top wines, trips to baseball games and a family vacation to Disney World, federal prosecutors said.
Barry Edwards, the former longtime Catawba County director of utilities and engineering, took tens of thousands of dollars in improper gifts, bribes and kickbacks from an unnamed contractor, prosecutors said in February when he pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
In exchange, Edwards rewarded the contractor with consulting and engineering work involving the county’s garbage and landfill operations, The Charlotte Observer reported at the time.
Edwards, a 66-year-old Hickory resident, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Asheville to a year and a day in federal prison, U.S. Attorney Dena King said in a news release.
A federal judge previously issued a $30,000 judgment against Edwards in the case. That equaled the value of the meals, trips and other gifts he received in the scheme, prosecutors said.
His scheme ran from 2012 to 2018, according to court documents.
Edwards didn’t return messages left by the Observer on Wednesday night on two phone numbers listed for him in public records. His Charlotte defense attorney, Rick Glaser, previously declined comment.
Edwards started working for the county in 1995, the Observer previously reported. His salary in 2019 was $150,000, according to a state salary database compiled by the Observer.
Court records show Edwards accepted:
▪ Thousand of dollars in wine trips and tastings at Stags Leap, Silver Oak and other top California labels. On several of the trips, Edwards traveled by limo, the Observer previously reported. In March 2017, he took home more than $1,900 of wine from Castello di Amorosa, a Napa Valley vintner that operates out of a faux-Tuscan castle.
▪ Thousands of dollars in meals in Charlotte, Baltimore, Seattle, New York and Boston, including at such restaurants as Ruth’s Chris ($694.87), Del Frisco’s ($775.60) and Capital Grille ($565.13). One June 2015 notation in a plea document lists only a “meal” for $923.60.
▪ And Major League Baseball tickets, including $854 for Boston Red Sox tickets in April 2014; $769 for seats in June 2016 at a New York Yankees-Colorado Rockies game; and more than $1,500 in StubHub seats to watch Boston twice play the Seattle Mariners.
Staff writer Michael Gordon contributed to this story.
This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 9:10 PM.