Ex-buyer for prison, wife accused of taking bribes

PORTLAND – A former Oregon prison food administrator and his wife have been indicted on bribery and money laundering charges accusing them of taking more than $1 million in illegal payments and kickbacks from at least two national wholesalers of discounted foods.

The U.S. attorney’s office said Friday that a federal grand jury in Eugene returned a 20-count indictment against Farhad “Fred” Monem and his wife, Karen.

The indictment charges both with conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, bribery, money laundering and interstate travel in aid of racketeering.

Oregon Department of Corrections officials had been awaiting the results of a federal investigation of the Monems.

“We haven’t seen it yet but we’re eager to see what it says,” department spokeswoman Perrin Damon said of the indictment.

Fred Monem, 48, is a fugitive and the FBI is asking the public for any information on him. Karen Monem, 44, is scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Eugene on Monday.

Four officials of the two wholesale food companies already have pleaded guilty to federal charges of bribery and tax fraud.

Three officials of Levin & Lawrence Inc., also known as L&L Inc., admitted paying Fred Monem $532,000 to share profits from $4.36 million in food sales to the state while the owner of MRB, LLC, of Maryland admitted paying Monem at least $600,000 for $8.5 million in purchases, according to court records.

Shortly after meeting with federal prosecutors to discuss a plea deal in July, Fred Monem took a flight to Buffalo, N.Y., and did not return as planned on July 11. His wife was arrested the following week on a bribery charge.

The attorney for Karen Monem has said she did not know about her husband’s recent dealings, including the withdrawal of cash before he left for Buffalo.

Fred Monem had built a reputation for cutting prison costs before the bribery allegations were made public in January. He was fired in February as the Department of Corrections food purchasing manager after working for the state for more than 10 years.

The FBI has said it is investigating whether Monem may have fled to his native Iran.