ATLANTA — Jo Ann Macrina, former Atlanta City Watershed Management Commissioner, has been sentenced to four years and six months in prison for accepting bribes from an Atlanta contractor in exchange for selling millions of dollars worth of city businesses to the city company of the contractor.
“Jo Ann Macrina was tasked with securing water supplies for millions of Atlanta residents, but instead resorted to corruption, directing the work to a city contractor in exchange for cash, luxuries and a lucrative job offer,” the US attorney said Ryan K Buchanan. “We are committed to working closely with our partners to rid local governments of those who allow personal greed to abuse positions of trust.”
“Macrina used her position to sate her own greed,” said Keri Farley, the FBI’s Atlanta Special Agent in Charge. “This case is particularly disturbing because she was a department head. This belief reflects our ongoing commitment to rooting out corruption and bringing those who abuse positions of power to justice.”
“Jo Ann Macrina betrayed her public trust by bribery for money,” said James E. Dorsey, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Atlanta Field Office. “The verdict she received serves to remind officials that they are not above the law and will be held accountable for using public funds for their own benefit.”
According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the charges, and other information presented in court: Macrina served as the commissioner of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management from 2011 to May 2016. During Macrina’s tenure, the City of Atlanta awarded millions of dollars in contracts to an Atlanta-based design, construction management and services firm. Macrina took several steps to steer lucrative deals toward the firm’s joint venture. These actions included discarding previous bottom line results from potential vendors where the joint venture ranked bottom, replacing two evaluators who had previously represented the Department of Watershed Management with her and Macrina’s associates, and evaluating the joint venture at one Re-evaluation higher than all other reviewers.
In exchange for granting the company’s Executive Vice President access to confidential information and preferential treatment on City of Atlanta projects, Macrina was offered a position and accepted things of value. For example, Macrina accepted $10,000 in cash, a diamond ring, a room at a luxury hotel in Dubai, and landscaping work at her home from the company’s executive vice president either directly or through another company employee. Shortly after Macrina’s employment with the City of Atlanta ended, she began working for the company. Between June 2016 and September 2016, the firm and its executive vice president paid Macrina $30,000 in four separate payments.
Jo Ann Macrina, 66, of Daytona Beach, Fla., was sentenced by US District Judge Steve C. Jones to four years and six months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and $40,000 in damages. Macrina was convicted by jury on October 14, 2022 of conspiracy and federal program bribery.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the IRS Criminal Investigation.
Assistant US Attorney Nathan P. Kitchens for the Northern District of Georgia and Trial Attorney Jolee Porter of the Justice Department’s Division of Public Integrity are prosecuting the case.
For more information, please contact the US Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The web address of the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
