A pretrial hearing is scheduled for May 31 in Columbia, S.C., for one of two men accused of stealing $4.4 million from the federal government while working for the Savannah River Site’s MOX program.
Aaron Vennefron, the founder of Ohio-based AV Security, pleaded not guilty to a host of charges in February. If he wants to plead guilty, he must do so before the hearing in U.S. District Court, which will allow either party to raise any issues ahead of the trial. Following the hearing, the case will forward with jury selection at a later date.
Department of Energy contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services is building the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at SRS to convert 34 metric tons of surplus nuclear weapon-usable plutonium into commercial nuclear fuel.
AV Security was hired in 2010 as a subcontractor to provide security goods and services for the project. But, in December 2015, the U.S. Justice Department indicted Vennefron and Phillip Thompson, his partner, on 13 counts of wire fraud, one count of theft of government funds, and two counts of conspiracy.
The indictment says Vennefron formed AV Security “for the sole purpose of submitting false invoices for non existent goods.” Vennefron worked with Thompson, a senior representative for the MOX project through his work with construction labor services subcontractor Wise Services, according to the indictment.
Thompson and Vennefron willingly created false invoices and collected money on those invoices from CB&I AREVA MOX Services, the indictment says. Prosecutors allege that, on several occasions, goods were assumed to be purchased from another Ohio company, Ross Hardware. Vennefron allegedly would fax the invoices from the hardware store to Wise Services in South Carolina. From there, Thompson would submit the invoices to MOX Services for payment.
Thompson entered into a plea deal in February and is now awaiting sentencing on a count of conspiracy to commit theft of government funds. The punishment for the offense is up to five years in prison, a fine of as much as $250,000, a maximum of three years of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment.
