Former Jackson Health official charged in bribery scheme
MIAMI - A former Jackson Health System official is accused of accepting cash payments and gifts in exchange for awarding contracts.
On Tuesday Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle and other officials announced the arrest of 36-year-old Heriberto Martinez, a former Associate Director of Engineering for the Jackson Health System.
Officials said Martinez's arrest comes as a result of an audit of his contract procurement activities which had aroused serious concerns.
Those audit results were investigated by the Miami-Dade Police Department's Public Corruption Section and prosecutors from the State Attorney's Office Public Corruption Division and resulted in charges against Martinez.
Martinez is charged with one count of unlawful compensation.
"Heriberto Martinez was involved with contract procurement, the one who put the bids out and accepted them. He had a friendship with Theodoros Xidis and Theo's job was to submit the bids. He had 11 different companies. Essentially, Martinez called his friend Xidis that he needed to submit 2 to 3 bids for work and that way Xidis could be assured of getting one of those bids," said State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.
"This went on in 2020 and 2021. We can see there were $65,000 in cash deposits that were made in addition to what we can say were gifts. In essence, he would give jobs to his friends and get kickbacks for giving him contracts. It is to the Jackson Health system's credit that their audit led to the Miami-Dade Police investigation."
"The only way we can root out this conduct and not create apathy in the community is for everyone to call out no matter what you think of the crime because often in public corruption it is limited to one or two people who know about it."
Prosecutors said that as an Associate Director of Engineering at JHS, Martinez held a position of high trust and responsibility, assessing what smaller construction projects needed to be executed within JHS, obtaining contract price quotes, and executing the actual contracts.
According to legal documents, it is alleged Martinez accepted cash payments and gifts from a specific vendor and then would award JHS contracts to several companies that were owned or allegedly being operated by this vendor.
Fernandez Rundle said the vendor is cooperating in this investigation and is not facing any charges.
"The actions of this former Jackson employee undermine our commitment to being good stewards of public dollars. We have a zero-tolerance policy for this type of egregious misconduct," said Carlos A. Migoya, president, and CEO of Jackson Health System.
"Our internal audit process detected this issue, which is a testament to the strong controls we have in place to ensure that our team members are upholding the highest standards of integrity and accountability."
"I commend the diligent work of Jackson Health Systems, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, and the dedication of my Public Corruption Section in investigating and apprehending an individual who abused their position for personal gain," commented Miami-Dade Police Department Director Stephanie Daniels.
"It is our unwavering commitment to uphold the law and ensure that those who choose to break it are held accountable for their actions."
