Financial Fraud: Tracy Dean Tronco Charged With One Count of Conspiracy to Commit Federal Program Theft

<h2>Former FDOT Employee And Her Husband Charged With Theft Of More Than &dollar;370&comma;000 In Federal Grant Funds<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Tampa&comma; Florida – Acting United States Attorney W&period; Stephen Muldrow announces the return of an indictment charging Tracy Dean Tronco &lpar;51&comma; Lakeland&rpar; and Alejo Tronco-Diaz &lpar;50&comma; Lakeland&rpar; with one count of conspiracy to commit federal program theft&comma; one count of mail fraud&comma; and two counts of federal program theft&period; If convicted&comma; each faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in federal prison for the conspiracy count&comma; up to 20 years’ imprisonment on the mail fraud count&comma; and up to 10 years in federal prison for each of the program theft counts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>According to the <span class&equals;"file">indictment<&sol;span>&comma; Tronco worked as a Transit Coordinator and Passenger Operations Specialist at the Florida Department of Transportation’s &lpar;FDOT&rpar; District 7 office in Tampa from May 2010 through August 2015&period; She was responsible for administering transportation projects and funds that were intended to benefit Florida residents and taxpayers&period; As part of her work&comma; she had a role in awarding federal grant funds that the United States Department of Transportation provided to FDOT&period; Tronco-Diaz&comma; who married Tronco in 2012&comma; was an FDOT grant applicant who operated an alleged church&comma; Ministerio A Gran Voz De Trompeta Campus&comma; Inc&period; &lpar;Ministerio&rpar;&comma; in Hillsborough and Polk Counties&period; Ministerio purported to provide transportation services for underserved populations such as elderly&comma; disabled&comma; and unemployed individuals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Tronco used her position at FDOT to award more than &dollar;370&comma;000<b> <&sol;b>in federal funds to Ministerio and another religious ministry that claimed to be partnering with Ministerio to provide transportation services&period; The grant money was supposed to be used to purchase and renovate a commercial property in Hillsborough County&comma; to provide job and transportation-related services&comma; to purchase three new vehicles&comma; and to reimburse the operation’s vehicle maintenance costs&period; However&comma; the funds and vehicles were not used for the purposes stated in the grant paperwork&comma; but&comma; instead&comma; were kept by Tronco&comma; her husband&comma; and other co-conspirators&period; Tronco also failed to disclose to FDOT her personal relationship with Tronco-Diaz&comma; which constituted a conflict of interest that would have prevented her from handling the awards in question&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Tronco resigned from FDOT in lieu of termination on April 27&comma; 2016&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law&comma; and every defendant is presumed innocent unless&comma; and until&comma; proven guilty&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General&period; It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Patrick Scruggs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-mdfl&sol;pr&sol;former-fdot-employee-and-her-husband-charged-theft-more-370000-federal-grant-funds">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

Financial Fraud