POCATELLO — A former Federal Bureau of Investigation official who worked on the FBI’s Pocatello Data Center project will serve time in prison for receiving bribes and committing tax fraud.

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill recently sentenced James Heslep, 52, of Gainesville, Virginia, to 39 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for receiving a bribe by a public official, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho. In addition, he will serve 36 months in prison and a year of supervised release for making and subscribing a false federal income tax return. His sentences will run concurrently.

Heslep will also forfeit $128,128 and have to pay $15,353 in restitution to the Internal Revenue service, the news release states.

“A 39-month sentence is significant and sends the appropriate message to Mr. Heslep and other public officials entrusted with influence over government contracts,” acting U.S. attorney Rafael M. Gonzalez, Jr. said in the news release. “Public service is a public trust. The people of Idaho must be confident that when that trust is breached, there will be severe consequences no matter who you are or where you work. This investigation, this prosecution, and this sentence delivers that message clearly and forcefully.”

Heslep, a management and program analyst with the FBI, was the contracting officer representative for the Pocatello Data Center project and had management and oversight responsibilities during its construction.

Between 2016 and 2018, Heslep accepted $128,128 in illegal payments and items of value from business acquaintance Robert Bailey, 63, of Centreville, Virginia, and his construction management and operations company, L-1, officials said.

“These payments included 18 deposits totaling $120,000 into a bank account controlled by Heslep. From this account, Heslep made payments on a personal loan, home mortgage, car, credit card, and vacation travel payments, among other personal expenditures at retail stores, such as a pair of diamond earrings that cost $5,300,” according to the news release. “In addition, Bailey and L-1 provided the following items of value to Heslep: a fiftieth birthday party in Dallas, Texas, including first-class airfare, hotel accommodations, and tickets to a Dallas Cowboys football game; a beach house rental in Nags Head, North Carolina; first-class Amtrak train tickets; invitations to a L-1 company holiday party; and tickets to a Washington Nationals baseball game, among other gratuities.”

Officials say Bailey and L-1 made the payments and provided the items to Heslep with the intent to influence him to perform official acts that benefited L-1 on the Pocatello Data Center project.

“These official acts included the following: Heslep seeking and receiving authorization for approximately $16,000 monthly per diem payments from the FBI to Bailey for L-1 employees who stayed at Bailey’s house instead of a hotel; Heslep soliciting and including Bailey’s edits in the statement of work to a $12.2 million construction and services bridge contract (related to the Pocatello Data Center project) that the FBI later awarded to S-1 (as general contractor) and L-1 (as subcontractor); and Heslep convincing his FBI superiors to pay L-1 for its work on the bridge contract at higher Washington, D.C. metropolitan-area labor rates, rather than lower Idaho labor rates,” according to the news release. “The Washington D.C. labor rates were approximately 30 percent greater than the Idaho labor rates.”

Andy Tsui, Special Agent in Charge of IRS – Criminal Investigation’s Denver Field Office, says Heslep abused his position as a public official to obtain illegal payments and use them for his own personal gain.

“This sentence sends a clear message that the law of the land applies to everyone, including paying your fair share of taxes, regardless of position or power,” Tsui said in the news release.

He continued: “IRS Criminal Investigation will continue to enforce the nation’s tax laws regardless of a person’s status or a person’s position as a public official.”

Bailey pleaded guilty to paying a bribe to a public official and will be sentenced for that crime on May 5, officials said.