Former Homeland Security Supervisor Heads to Prison

A former manager at the Homeland Security Department is going to prison for taking nearly $13,000 in bribes from a government contractor.

A U.S. District Court judge recently sentenced Derek Matthews, 47, of Harwood, Md., to 15 months in prison and one year of supervised release for using his position at the Federal Protective Service to help a security service firm win more than $31 million in government contracts. Matthews pleaded guilty in April.

Matthews, who served as deputy assistant director for operations at FPS and later was promoted to regional director for the national capital region, netted $12,500 in bribes from Keith Hedman, an executive at an Arlington, Va., consulting firm, known as Company B in court documents. Company B was a shell company Hedman set up to obtain federal contracts set aside for minority-owned and disadvantaged small businesses.

Hedman in 2011 agreed to pay Matthews $50,000 in monthly installments over a year and a percentage of profits from new business in exchange for Matthews’ help finding and winning contracts. Matthews, who supervised 13,000 employees and 9,000 federal buildings in his job, received three monthly payments before investigators interrupted the scheme.

Hedman pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit bribery in connection with Matthews’ scheme, along with conspiracy to commit major government fraud as part of a separate scheme to fraudulently obtain millions in government contract payments. He was sentenced in June to six years in prison for major government fraud and two years for bribery.

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