MANSFIELD – A former federal produce inspector with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly submitting false inspection reports in exchange for bribe payments.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton in a press release.
Timothy Peppel, a 68-year-old Mansfield resident, was indicted on federal charges last week.
Peppel served as a federal produce inspector, conducting inspections and providing inspection reports to companies engaged in buying and selling produce.
The indictment alleges that a wholesale produce company, American Fresh Produce (AFP), initiated a questionable relationship with Peppel in 2014.
AFP reportedly sought produce inspections from USDA AMS to evaluate and rate their produce.
According to prosecutors, Timothy Peppel, among the inspectors responsible for evaluating AFP’s produce, engaged in a corrupt scheme shortly after initiating inspections.
Peppel allegedly solicited and received weekly bribe payments ranging from $1,000 to $1,500 from the owner of AFP, according to the release.
In return for the illicit payments, Peppel purportedly agreed to fabricate produce inspection reports that intentionally downgraded the quality of AFP’s produce.
The practice enabled AFP to negotiate lower prices for the produce they purchased from brokers.
The charges brought against Peppel include one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and receiving a bribe by a public officer, five counts of honest services wire fraud, and one count of receiving a bribe by a public official.
If convicted, Peppel could face severe penalties, including up to five years in prison for the conspiracy charge, 20 years for each count of honest services wire fraud, and 15 years for the count of receiving a bribe by a public official, in addition to restitution.