The mayor of Williamson was charged
with lying to federal investigators Tuesday less than 24 hours after he
resigned his office.
Darrin McCormick was named in a
federal information alleging he lied to an FBI agent investigating a workers’
compensation scheme and suspicious banking activity.
McCormick allegedly committed the
crime on Feb. 19, 2013. He was the Williamson branch manager of the Bank
of Mingo at the time.
“Federal investigations are serious matters,”
said U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin in a prepared statement, “and providing false
information to federal investigators is a serious crime. When people try to
lead investigators astray with false statements, justice suffers, and that
hurts all of us.”
A federal information usually means
the defendant is cooperating with prosecutors. McCormick submitted his letter
of resignation as Williamson’s mayor Monday and said he would stay on the job
until April 30. He was elected in 2005.
Goodwin’s office has been
investigating the dealings of employee leasing firm Aracoma Contracting of
Williamson. The company was sentenced in February to three years probation and
ordered to pay more than $4 million in restitution for operating a structuring
scheme.
Aracoma would send advance forms to
the Bank of Mingo’s Williamson branch so the bank could prepare the cash ahead
of time. The bank would then have cashier’s checks ready to be signed in
exchange for the cash.
The company, working with an
employee at the Bank of Mingo, would withdraw $10,000 or less in cash and
use it to pay payroll to avoid federal employment taxes. The money was also
used to bribe BrickStreet Insurance field auditor Arville Sargent who worked
with Aracoma to falsifying the number of employees at the company in order to
lower workers’ compensation rates.
Sargent has already been sentenced
to six years in prison.
Jerome Edward Russell, 50, of
Williamson, and Frelin R. Workman, 58, of Belfry, Ky.
