Bogus bridge-part brothers bound for ‘big house’

There’s nothing wrong with a company coming into North Carolina to sell parts used to build bridges in the state. That’s just capitalism.

But when those bridge parts are defective and they’re sold by way of an elaborate scheme designed to inflate their virtues, well, that’s just a bridge too far for federal prosecutors.

Such was the case for Santiago De La Torre, 45, of Joliet, Illinois, who pleaded guilty last week to one count of conspiracy to make false statements and one count of perjury related to an alleged bogus bridge-part scheme.

Santiago De La Torre and his brother Joel De La Torre were the owners of Delgado Elastomeric Bearings Corp., which manufactured and sold elastomeric bridge bearings. Think shock absorbers for bridges.

According to federal prosecutors from the Eastern District of North Carolina, between 2009 and October 2011, the De La Torres carried out a scheme to manufacture and sell bridge bearings on federal and state highway contracts in North Carolina as though an individual, identified as “A.D.,” was a vice president of DEBC with knowledge of the company’s operations. But in fact, A.D. was a minor with zero knowledge of how to manufacture bridge bearings. That allegedly didn’t stop the De La Torres from paying him a wage to use his name when filling out forms that were submitted to state transportation officials.

The alleged scheme also involved forged contract applications that were filed with the state and false documents included with each shipment of bridge bearings, overstating their quality and the testing they had gone through.

Those allegedly false documents allowed the De La Torres to provide defective bridge bearings to contractors working on state and federal bridge projects in North Carolina.

The conspiracy to make false statements charge against Santiago De La Torre relates to the allegedly false documents. His perjury charge stems from statements he made to the federal grand jury looking into the allegations.

The maximum punishment for the count of conspiracy to make false statements concerning highway projects is five years in prison. The perjury charge also carries a maximum five-year sentence. Each count also carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and up to three years of supervised release.

Joel De La Torre pleaded guilty on April 16, 2015, to one count of making false statements concerning highway projects, aggravated identity theft, as well as aiding and abetting.

It’s safe to say the De La Torres may have burned their bridge with regard to contracts in North Carolina.