Following bond violation, former emergency management director to stay in jail

Brian Reams is former Director of Emergency Management in Laurlel County.

A former local emergency management director, who has pleaded guilty to defrauding a program designed to help prepare communities respond to potential incidents involving chemical weapons, is behind bars this week for violating the terms of his bond.

Brian Reams, 43, is asking a judge to set aside the conditions of his release, signaling his intention to remain in jail without challenging revocation of his bond. Prosecutors accused Reams of an unspecified violation of the conditions of his release. Documents that could shed light on the violation are currently under seal and cannot be viewed by the public.

Reams was formerly Director of the Laurel County Department of Public Safety and Emergency Management. He was accused last October of conspiring with his girlfriend, and eventual wife, to rip off a program called CSEPP – Chemical Weapons Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program. In 2006, CSEPP provided $1.8 million to the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management to "purchase and maintain emergency preparedness equipment" so that communities near the Bluegrass Army Depot, in Madison County, could be respond to any chemical weapons incidents. The Depot contains a stockpile of chemical weapons.

An Integrated Process Team (IPT) was formed by the 10 counties that made up CSEPP. Reams was a member of the IPT.
From Nov. 2006 through Aug. 2007, Reams conspired with Melody Vess Reams to rig bids regarding the purchase of equipment like generators, decontamination tents, emergency response trailers, etc. Vess owned a company called Providing Response and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) that was founded in Aug. 2006. He ensured her company was the low bidder on the project.

Prosecutors say Vess provided counties "with equipment of lesser value and quality than that called for in PREP’s winning bid." She and Reams worked together on purchase of the equipment and both benefited from the contract.

Vess deposited $539,446.35 in a bank account at L&N Federal Credit Union in London on May 4, 2007 – payment for the equipment.

The actual lone legitimate bidder on the CSEPP contract had undercut PREP with a bid of $378,260, a difference of $152.186.35.

The duo agreed in January and May 2008 to fraudulently bill CESEPP for two radio repeaters "that were never intended to be delivered." Vess received one payment on the equipment for $9,996.15, but a second invoice was rejected.

In addition, Reams was also accused of using $26,029.06 to pay "unrelated financial obligations of the Laurel County Fiscal Court."

Vess pleaded guilty to her part in the scheme last September and received a sentence of three years probation. She was also ordered to pay $215,134.30 in restitution.

Reams pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States on Oct. 20, 2011. He could receive up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. A formal sentencing hearing on the case is scheduled for March 8.

Reams appeared before Magistrate Judge Hanley Ingram in U.S. District Court in London last week for a hearing on the bond violation, but it was continued generally. His attorney, Michael Murphy, filed a motion in court Tuesday asking the judge to set aside Reams’ order of release, assuring that he will remain in jail until he is sentenced.