By Joseph D. Bryant | jbryant@al.com
A longtime assistant to state Rep. John Rogers has been indicted on 21 federal charges, alleging she conspired to skim nearly $200,000 in public money from a Jefferson County community service fund.
Varrie Johnson Kindall, 58, of Chelsea, is charged with 14 counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, two counts of obstruction of justice, one count of money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, according to the indictment that was unsealed today in federal court in Birmingham.
The charges stem from misuse of money from the Jefferson County Community Service Fund, money that was intended to support the nonprofit Piper Davis youth baseball league, according to the indictment.
State Rep. Fred Plump, the founder and executive director of the nonprofit, in June pleaded guilty one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of obstruction of justice, for his role in the scheme and resigned from the Alabama House of Representatives.
Two lawmakers, including one who’s been criminally charged and has resigned, are at the center of a Birmingham corruption case.
The indictment alleges that between fiscal year 2018 and fiscal year 2022, Rogers was allocated about $500,000 by the service fund, which is a collection of public tax dollars that local lawmakers get to hand out to various service organizations. Rogers directed about $400,000 of that discretionary money to Piper Davis. In turn, Plump gave about $200,000 to Kindall, the indictment states.
Jim Parkman, the Birmingham attorney representing Kindall, declined to comment for this story.
Plump confessed in his plea agreement to kicking back nearly $200,000 to Kindall, with whom he had a romantic relationship. The indictment says that Kindall, who served as both a personal and professional assistant, also had a romantic relationship with Rep. Rogers.
“It was a part of the conspiracy that John Rogers, with defendant Varrie Johnson Kindall’s assistance, would and did recommend that most of John Rogers’ allotment of Fund money be paid to Piper Davis each fiscal year,” the indictment alleges. “Further, defendant Varrie Johnson Kindall would and did require that Fred Lee Plump, Jr. pay kickbacks to her from Fund money directed to Piper Davis by John Rogers.”
Plump’s plea agreement says that Rogers was also to receive a cut of the money. Rogers has not been charged with any crimes. In multiple interviews with AL.com, he has denied wrongdoing and said he knew nothing about any misuse of public money.
Prosecutors, in the indictment, described the illicit kickback payments to Kindall as her “administration fee.”
Federal officials also accuse Kindall and Plump of trying to conceal the scheme from the committee that oversees the community service fund, saying they “did submit, and cause to be submitted, false and fraudulent information to the Committee, including false information about Piper Davis’s intended use of Fund money,” the filing states. “They also concealed from the Committee and others that defendant Varrie Johnson Kindall was receiving money from Piper Davis.”
Plump, who was elected to the state House of Representatives last year, was executive director of the Piper Davis Youth Baseball League since he founded it in January 2012.
Kindall, who is not a state employee, often handled both Roger’s official business and personal matters, Rogers previously told AL.com, adding that she had his permission to sign his name on official documents in his absence. Kindall was also a frequent presence at political meetings with Rogers.
Plump, in his plea agreement, alleged that Kindall told him Rogers needed half of the money he was giving to her. According to the court documents, Plump wrote Kindall the first check of $10,000 in April 2019, and soon after began a romantic relationship with her.
In his plea agreement, Plump admitted to submitting falsified budgets to the fund’s committee to get the money. Plump said in the court filing that some of the checks were written for a dance team and cheerleading squad. But no dancers or cheerleaders were provided for Piper Davis events. The disgraced former lawmaker is set to be sentenced in October.
Kindall is accused of depositing the checks from Plump into personal bank accounts and using the money for cash spending as well as for her mortgage and credit card payments, charging documents allege.
Prosecutors outlined heavy monetary and prison penalties if Kindall is convicted on the charges. The maximum penalty for the conspiracy and substantive fraud counts is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for money laundering is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for obstruction of justice is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for obstruction of justice by bribery is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The indictment was announced this afternoon by U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Carlton L. Peeples, and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Acting Special Agent in Charge Demetrius Hardeman.
An arraignment on Kindall’s case is scheduled on Sept. 14.
Kindall is already facing charges in a separate federal case. Prosecutors earlier this summer alleged that she stole federal money by collecting nearly $88,000 worth of retirement payments for years after her parents died. A federal grand jury in that case, which was unsealed in June, indicted Kindall on two counts of theft of public money, one count of theft from an employee benefit plan and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
