A former Department of Defense civilian employee who worked at San Diego’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command pleaded guilty Thursday to a bribery conspiracy charge for accepting thousands of dollars worth of meals from a Virginia-based defense contractor who she helped secure lucrative government contracts.
Prosecutors charged Dawnell Parker on Thursday with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. Her attorney said she pleaded guilty to the charge during an initial appearance in U.S. District Court.
The charging document in the case alleges that Parker’s direct supervisor at what was then known by the acronym SPAWAR accepted even more lavish gifts from the same defense contractor, including tickets to the 2018 World Series and 2019 Super Bowl. The court documents do not name the supervisor, who was an engineer, or the contractor, but refer to them as Parker’s co-conspirators.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego declined to comment about Parker’s alleged co-conspirators, and defense attorney David Baker said he did not know if they have been charged.
As to his client’s plea, Baker emphasized that “this is over a few dinners, not a tremendous amount of money.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that as part of her plea, Parker also admitted to accepting valuable items, including meals, from a second contractor with offices in San Diego and Virginia.
Similar bribery schemes have plagued the Navy in recent years, including several prosecuted in San Diego — most notably the “Fat Leonard” scandal, the largest bribery and corruption scheme in the Navy’s history, involving Malaysian defense contractor Leonard Glenn Francis. In 2014, a San Diego federal judge sentenced the self-described “Godfather of Camp Pendleton” to two years in prison for handing out lucrative contracts in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in bribes.
According to the charging document against Parker, 54, her job was “primarily administrative,” and as part of that job she assisted contracting officer representatives, whose job it is to manage all aspects of Department of Defense contracts. Those responsibilities include approving contractor invoices, evaluating contractor bids and proposals, and conducting performance reviews of contractors.
Parker, who began working at SPAWAR in 2009, became involved in the bribery scheme in 2015 when she began working directly with the engineer supervisor, according to the charging documents. Prosecutors allege Parker and the engineer accepted gifts from the president and CEO of a defense contracting company based in Fredericksburg, Va.
The defense contracting company was eligible for federal contracts through a program known as the Small Business Administration 8(a) Business Development program, which the SBA says was “created to help firms owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.”
According to prosecutors, the most serious bribery that occurred involved the engineer only, not Parker, and dealt with sporting events. Prosecutors allege that the defense contractor took the engineer and his wife to watch Game 5 of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The trio watched the Boston Red Sox win the game to wrap up a 4-1 World Series victory over the Dodgers from field-level box seats that cost $7,161.
The contractor purchased those seats, as well as parking passes worth about $315, according to the charging document.
A few months later, in February 2019, the engineer and the contractor watched the New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams at Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta, according to prosecutors. The contractor allegedly paid $10,900 for the tickets.
Over the years, the contractor allegedly treated the engineer and Parker to several expensive meals on both coasts. According to prosecutors, the meals included a $610 dinner and a $917 dinner at a Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Virginia; a nearly $700 dinner at the since-closed de’Medici Cucina in the Gaslamp Quarter; a nearly $400 lunch at the University Club atop Symphony Towers, a private space that requires membership and bills itself as the “business and social center of San Diego’s professional elite”; a $208 dinner at a Greek restaurant in Virginia; a nearly $520 dinner at a seafood restaurant in Virginia; and a nearly $400 dinner in Washington, D.C.
Additionally, the contractor took the engineer out for a dinner that cost $859 at Bluewater Boathouse Grill in Coronado, according to prosecutors. Parker was invited but did not attend because of an illness.
As they received these meals and sports tickets over the years, the engineer and Parker helped steer contracts to the contractor in a variety of ways, according to the charging document. That included rating the contractor highly during evaluations, recommending the contractor for various projects and giving the contractor insider information that helped the contractor submit the most attractive proposal.
With the help of the engineer and Parker, the contractor was able to secure at least six contracts worth more than $7.7 million, according to the charging document.
In August 2019, Parker left SPAWAR, which by then was known as Naval Information Warfare Center. Her LinkedIn page indicates she now works for an out-of-state defense and space manufacturing company that contracts with the federal government.
