CINCINNATI — Just one day after Doug Evans and his company, Evans Landscaping, received sentencing in a federal fraud case, Cincinnati councilmember Tamaya Dennard filed a motion to permanently bar companies convicted of misrepresentation or fraud from ever winning government contracts in Cincinnati again.
Dennard admitted the motion filed Wednesday was directly in response to Evans and his company.
The motion specifically suggests the City of Cincinnati "permanently debar any person, company or organization from doing business with the city if they are convicted of misrepresentation and/or fraud in order to secure contracts with local, state or federal government for which they wouldn't ordinarily qualify."
Evans insisted throughout his trial he was innocent, but the jury convicted him of creating a shell company — Ergon Site Construction — in 2008, hoping to win millions in minority demolition jobs from the state and the city of Cincinnati amid a deepening recession.
"It is worth reminding the court that the letters in the name 'Ergon' could be rearranged to form the word 'Negro,'" Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Mangan wrote in a sentencing memorandum about the case. "One witness testified that Doug Evans thought the use of that term for Ergon was hilarious ... The word 'Negro' was written in handwriting at the top of an invoice that was found on a table in Doug Evans' office during the search."
Read the full motion below
Dennard Motion by WCPO Web Team on Scribd
