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High-ranking Norfolk supervisor to plead guilty to taking bribes

Posted at 3:50 PM, Apr 24, 2013
and last updated 2013-04-24 15:50:42-04

Norfolk, Va. – A high-ranking Norfolk supervisor is scheduled to plead guilty next month to taking bribes. He is the third person charged in a fraud case that cost Norfolk taxpayers $40,000.

NewsChannel 3 was the first to tell you a city supervisor named Patrick Lambert was being investigated for taking bribes.

Prosecutors say Lambert got at least $17,000 in free plumbing work from several of the Norfolk rental properties he owns. In exchange, according to court documents, the plumber, Andrew Zoby got more city work. And Zoby admitted he submitted fake invoices to make back the bribe money. Not long after investigator Mike Mather confronted Lambert near his city office, Lambert was charged by federal prosecutors, and then resigned from his job. Court records show he will plead guilty May 9.

The plumber, Andrew Zoby, has also pleaded guilty to bribery. A second city supervisor, now retired, has also admitted he took bribes. All three men face up to a decade in prison.

Related: 

Sources: Norfolk worker under bribery investigation is a 15-year employee

State police to investigate Norfolk bribery allegations

Norfolk releases records, invoices of its dealings with plumber charged with bribery

Sources: Plumber billed city for highly-skilled labor but often used cheap workers