By Doug Fletcher,Staff Writer

A Lisbon man has been charged with federal bribery charges in connection with a corruption probe into Hurricane Katrina reconstruction operations.

Paul Darrell Nelson could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of the multiple bribery conspiracy charges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Jackson, Miss. The office leveled the charges against Nelson and a second man, Mitchell Glen Kendrix of Memphis, Tenn., on Tuesday.

Neither has filed a plea yet.

They’re expected to make an appearance in federal court in Jackson this week, officials said.

The charges are the first related to government corruption in Mississippi involving the $2 billion Katrina relief effort.

Nelson doesn’t have a telephone listed under his name in Lisbon and couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

Court documents filed in Jackson show that Nelson, once confronted by federal agents, cooperated with their investigation. The agents include representatives of the FBI, the Department of Defense, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division.

Nelson was working for a debris removal subcontractor on Katrina cleanup in Perry County, Miss., when he allegedly struck a deal with Kendrix to falsify load tickets for trips to a Hintonville, Miss., dumpsite.

Kendrix, according to court records, was working as a quality assurance representative for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the time.

The federal charges allege that Nelson would pay Kendrix $20 for each false load ticket. The tickets are used by contractors and subcontractors to claim pay from the federal government for services rendered.

“It is despicable, particularly in the aftermath of our nation’s greatest national disaster, for public officials at any level to break the public trust by accepting bribes,” said U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton in a statement announcing the charges. “Those who pay bribes in order to perform the work they have been contracted to do are equally repugnant. This type of criminal conduct cannot and will not be permitted.”

Materials supporting the federal indictments note that on Oct. 24, agents began to look into an allegation Kendrix sought a cash bribe from a debris removal subcontractor.

Shortly after, agents recorded conversations between Kendrix and a subcontractor at the dumpsite and at a Subway restaurant in Richton, Miss.

“These conversations reflected a willingness on Kendrix’s part to accept bribes in exchange for falsifying information on load tickets,” according to documents filed with the federal court.

Nelson agreed to cooperate with agents, who monitored his next transactions with Kendrix on video, where Nelson paid Kendrix $100 for five false load tickets, the complaint said.

When agents confronted Kendrix on Nov. 2, he first denied accepting bribes, but after being confronted with evidence, he admitted to accepting bribes from Nelson, the complaint said.

“Kendrix described the payments from Nelson as bribes and said he knew what he was doing was wrong,” according to the federal complaint.

On Nov. 9, Nelson told agents that he paid the bribes. He said he had purchased 14 tickets for $20 each, the complaint said. “Nelson said that Kendrix initiated the bribery scheme. Nelson said he told his employer about the bribe payments to Kendrix after the first payment had occurred, and that his employer was aware he was turning in false load tickets,” the complaint maintains.