The Rock Meuller Saga
Mueller arraigned on federal corruption charges?
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By the Lincoln Journal Star
December 15, 2005?
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Rock Mueller, hired by the state to run an anti-smoking campaign and later indicted for corruption at that job, was arraigned in federal court this week for receiving more than $75,000 from vendors associated with the program.
Mueller was indicted on the federal charges in June. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Thursday the delay in the arraignment was due to a pending state case against Mueller.
A Lancaster County district judge sentenced Mueller in late September to up to 25 years in prison for felony theft by deception. The charge stemmed from Mueller’s fraudulent sale of a motor home to a Lincoln couple.
The federal charges contain allegations Mueller corruptly accepted fees and expenses from vendors associated with the state anti-smoking campaign.
Mueller was hired by the state Health and Human Services System in 2001while he was on work release for a previous embezzlement conviction. The department paid him $4,600 a month to run an anti-smoking campaign.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleged a private company associated with the program paid Mueller for “consulting work” he did to help the company get more contracts. The company was going to provide services to the program related to a tobacco cessation quit line.?
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Convicted Felon Running Nebraska”s Tobacco Program
Auditor: Mueller Mismanaged Thousands Of Dollars
April 29, 2004
LINCOLN, Neb. — The state of Nebraska hired a man convicted of theft to oversee a million dollar program, while he was still serving time for his offense. Now, the state can”t account for thousands of dollars, and hundreds of thousands more may have been mismanaged, according to the state auditor.
Rock Mueller (pictured, left) got a job coordinating Nebraska”s tobacco cessation program in 2001 while he was in the state penitentiary for theft.
“He was first hired while an inmate in the penitentiary on work release,” said state auditor Kate Witek. “He was hired for $55,000 a year.”
Witek was asked to audit the tobacco program by the state”s new director of Health and Human Services. She turned up evidence that Mueller was paid by a contract firm that he picked to create the Nebraska Tobacco Quit Line. Pioneer, a company out of Salt Lake City, was not the lowest bidder for the project, Witek said, but Mueller chose them to do the work, then received about $78,000 from the firm for expenses and marketing fees.
Witek”s report shows that Mueller “either made the handwritten alterations to the vendor bid scores or was aware of the alterations” to make sure Pioneer got the contract.
Separately, Witek (pictured, right) said her office can”t account for some of the money given to high school programs for smoking prevention programs.
“He didn”t do any monitoring of where the money went in Lexington, $20,000 went to someone for consulting fees (for which) there”s no documentation,” Witek said.
Mueller”s wife works in the personnel department for the state of Nebraska.
Ron Ross is the one who actually hired Mueller while still the director of Health and Human Services. Ross has since moved on to be state treasurer. Ross replacement at HHS asked for the audit of the tobacco program.
Mueller was reached by phone and told KETV NewsWatch 7 to contact his lawyer, who was unavailable for comment.
http://www.theomahachannel.com/politics/3249879/detail.html
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Democrats doubt treasurer”s judgment
By SCOTT BAUER?? 5-4-04
When appointed as state treasurer, Ron Ross said one of the first things he wanted to do was make sure “there was no funny business going on.”
Now Ross”s judgment is being called into question by the Nebraska Democratic Party chairman and a government watchdog group after an audit showed Ross hired a three-time convicted felon to help run the state”s antitobacco program. The man Ross hired, Rock Mueller, was in a state prison work release program at the time.
“Lord knows we”ve had enough problems in state government,” Democratic Party Chairman Steve Achelpohl said on Monday. “It”s astonishing that that could happen.”
The FBI and Nebraska State Patrol are investigating possible illegal activity by Mueller while he worked for the program from 2001 until January.
An audit released last week said that Mueller altered bid documents in an apparent attempt to ensure a company that was paying Mueller won the contract for running the state”s smoking cessation telephone line. Mueller was supervising the telephone line as part of his state job. He also ran the teen tobacco prevention programs and efforts targeting diverse populations.
No charges have been filed against Mueller.
Mueller, through his attorney John C. Ball, last week denied any wrongdoing and has said he will be found innocent. Ball declined further comment Monday.
Ross, a Republican, hired Mueller in 2001 when Ross was serving as director of Health and Human Services and Mueller was in a state prison work release program. Mueller was serving a prison sentence on two felony theft convictions for stealing from his employers.
“I gave the man a chance, and he blew it,” Ross said Monday. “I do not know if he has done anything illegal, but if he has, I hope he is prosecuted to the fullest of the law. And as for the negative political partisan comments, I”m disappointed but not surprised.”
Achelpohl said Mueller”s hiring points to problems with Gov. Mike Johanns” entire administration. Johanns appointed Ross to both his position with HHS and as state treasurer in December.
“The people that Johanns has put in charge of these agencies point out the ineptitude with which the governor has run his administration, and this is just another example of it,” Achelpohl said. “Ineptitude and corruption seem to be the hallmark of this administration.”
Johanns appointed Ross as treasurer to succeed Lorelee Byrd, who resigned after pleading guilty to misconduct in office. The charge against Byrd was related to writing checks but not sending them to the payees in an apparent attempt to save her office from budget cuts. Johanns also had appointed Byrd, a Republican, to office.
Ross said at the time of his appointment that one of his priorities would be making sure the state”s assets are being protected and that “there is no funny business going on.”
At the time of Ross”s appointment, Johanns said his honesty and integrity were a key part of his being named treasurer.
Johanns” spokeswoman defended Ross, saying he is doing a terrific job.
“One poor decision does not constitute a lack of leadership,” Terri Teuber said of Ross. “Bottom line is this is a partisan attack, and Nebraskans will judge for themselves Ron”s capabilities.”
Ross”s decision to hire Mueller is perplexing given Mueller”s criminal background, said Jack Gould, spokesman for the Nebraska chapter of the government watchdog group Common Cause.
“What kind of judgment was used here?” Gould said. “Hopefully he has better judgment on other issues.”
Mueller, who was convicted of two felony theft charges in 1998 for stealing from a plumbing wholesale business he worked for, also has a 1987 conviction for stealing from his employer at the time, New York Life Insurance Co. He spent nearly six years in prison related to the convictions.
Achelpohl said Ross wasn”t diligent enough in checking Mueller”s background.
“If he didn”t know about this guy”s past, he should have known about it,” Achelpohl said.
The audit of the state”s antitobacco program began in January, after Ross left HHS. Ross has said he didn”t learn about any of the problems uncovered in the audit until he was questioned by the State Patrol.
Mueller also worked for the state under then-Gov. Kay Orr”s administration. Mueller was head of the state”s Drug-Free schools program from 1988 to 1991 but was asked to leave when Education Commissioner Doug Christensen learned of his prior theft conviction.
Mueller”s last day working for the state this time was Jan. 30.
Ross will serve through 2006 and could seek election in November of that year for a full four-year term as treasurer.
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6-23-05
Mueller indicted on corruption charges
By EMILY FREDRIX / The Associated Press
OMAHA – The man hired by the state to run an anti-smoking program while he was still in prison has been indicted for receiving more than $75,000 from vendors associated with the program.
Rock Mueller was indicted by a federal grand jury in Lincoln on three charges of corruptly accepting fees and expenses from the vendors over a two-year period, U.S. Attorney Michael Heavican said Thursday.
Mueller, 52, of Lincoln, was hired as a contract worker by the Health and Human Services Department in 2001 while he was on work release from an embezzlement conviction.
The latest indictments allege Mueller accepted $73,200 in fees and nearly $5,080 in expenses from the vendors between January 2002 through last February. Court documents allege some of the money was paid by a private company in exchange for help winning more contracts.
If convicted, Mueller would face up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine for each of the three counts.
Mueller, a former Scottsbluff insurance agent, was made a full employee in 2003, said health department spokeswoman Kathie Osterman. A state audit turned up irregularities in the programs he was administering. Mueller”s employment ceased as of last January, she said. As far as the department knows, no state funds were misused, she said.
Mueller is currently in the Lancaster County Jail on a case still pending over a felony charge that he sold a motor home to a couple in Lincoln for $32,000, then failed to pay off the loan on the home. Mueller was arrested last May in Iowa in that case. He also faces habitual criminal charges.
He had been serving a seven-to-10-year prison sentence on two felony theft charges when he was originally awarded the contract.
Mueller had entered into a contract with HHS to work for $4,600 a month, or $55,200 a year, while still in prison.
State prison officials have said it is common for prison inmates to secure jobs with state agencies while on work release, but it is uncommon to have them earn as much as Mueller was.
This March, hiring practices at HHS came under scrutiny when it was revealed that the department had hired a man to run a mental-health office who was convicted in 1985 in a murder that garnered worldwide attention.
Wayne Richard McGuire had been found guilty in absentia in Rwanda in the slaying of Dian Fossey, the American wildlife researcher famous for her work in Africa. The state withdrew the job offer after word surfaced that McGuire was the same man connected with Fossey.
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No-contest plea in fraudulent sale
July 31, 2005
LINCOLN – A man who sold a motor home to a couple but didn”t pay off the bank loan on it has pleaded no contest to theft by deception.
Rock Mueller, 51, is a convicted embezzler who was hired in 2001 while on prison work release to help run a state anti-smoking program.
He later was indicted on suspicion of corruption in that job.
On Friday, he pleaded no contest in the unrelated theft case.
He was accused of selling the motor home to David and Carolyn Nelson of Lincoln for $32,000. He didn”t pay off the outstanding loan, though, and the Nelsons had to surrender it to the bank.
They have since sued Mueller in civil court, and that case is still pending.
Given his record, Mueller could face sentencing as a habitual criminal. That could increase his prison time to 10 to 60 years in prison on the theft conviction, instead of one to 20 years.
