NC county official took baseball tickets, wine trips for public contracts, feds say
For a public servant in a rural Charlotte-area county, Barry Edwards has led a rich and varied life — high-end meals and the best wines, trips to marquee baseball games, a family getaway to Disney World.
And he didn’t pay for any of it.
Instead, according to new court documents, Catawba County’s former longtime director of utilities and engineering took tens of thousands of dollars in improper gifts, bribes and kickbacks as a routine part of doing business — a long-running quid pro quo with an unnamed contractor whom Edwards rewarded with consulting and engineering work involving the county’s garbage and landfill operations.
On Wednesday, as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors, Edwards, who lives in Hickory, pleaded guilty in federal court in Charlotte to one count of wire fraud conspiracy. It carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Edwards, 65, will be sentenced at a later date. In an email to the Observer on Wednesday, defense attorney Rick Glazer of Charlotte declined comment.
According to filings this month by Asheville-based prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Edwards was hired as his county’s utilities and engineering director in 1995. A state salary database compiled by the Observer indicates Edward had a 2019 salary of about $150,000.
Edwards’ kickback conspiracy with the unidentified contractor amounted to a committed relationship: A six-year run in which the contractor worked for three different companies bidding for consulting and engineering work with Catawba County. All the while, prosecutors say, the stream of bribes to Edwards never stopped, including:
▪ Thousand of dollars for wine trips and tastings at Stags Leap, Silver Oak and other top California labels. On several of the trips, Edwards traveled by limo. In March 2017, he took home more than $1,900 of wine from Castello di Amorosa, a Napa Valley vintner that operates out of a faux-Tuscan castle.
▪ Thousands of more dollars for meals in Charlotte, Baltimore, Seattle, New York and Boston at such restaurants as Ruth’s Chris ($694.87), Del Frisco’s ($775.60) and Capital Grille ($565.13). One June 2015 notation in a plea document lists only a generic “meal.” Cost: $923.60.
▪ And then there was Edwards’ sporting life, particularly Major League Baseball: $854 for Boston Red Sox tickets in April 2014; $769 for seats in June 2016 to take in the New York Yankees and the Colorado Rockies. In June 2016, Edwards received more than $1,500 in StubHub seats to watch Boston play the Seattle Mariners twice.
Sometimes, Edwards took the family: a July 2014 meal with his wife and daughter at Capital Grille; a January 2015 Florida trip, again with his wife and daughter, that included a $406 steak dinner, nearly $1,800 in lodging and $868 for Disney World tickets, documents show.
In all, the illicit gifts itemized by prosecutors totaled almost $40,000. Court documents indicate there were more.
In return, according to the plea documents, Edwards’ co-conspirator and his companies received consultant and engineering contracts related to the county’s landfill, solid waste department and natural gas projects.
Federal documents do not indicate the cost of those contracts. The companies involved are not named in the plea documents, nor are they accused of any wrongdoing.
This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 6:20 AM with the headline "NC county official took baseball tickets, wine trips for public contracts, feds say."
