RICHMOND, Va. — Federal prosecutors say a former procurement officer for the Richmond Fire Department embezzled money from the agency for nearly a decade, from 2017 to 2025.
Court documents allege he facilitated payments to sham vendors owned by his friends and family. The alleged scheme spanned multiple states and involved at least 6 co-conspirators.
At least two of those co-conspirators — Alishia Smith and Jaelin Randall, whom prosecutors say operated some of the sham vendors — are now facing federal charges.
The court documents do not name the procurement officer but say he began working for the city in 2012 after retiring from the U.S. Navy.
Prosecutors say co-conspirators, at the procurement officer's direction, submitted fabricated quotes and invoices to the fire department and collected fraudulent proceeds from the city. They pocketed some of the money for personal benefit and returned a portion to the procurement officer. Prosecutors say none of the vendors provided any legitimate goods or services to the city.
In one example, prosecutors say the procurement officer caused the city to pay $50,000 to Smith for gear racks that her sham vendor never supplied.
Combined, Smith's and Randall's sham vendors received nearly $750,000 in fraudulent taxpayer dollars. Detailed allegations for the other co-conspirators involved have not yet been made public.
City auditors began investigating the case in early 2025. During that probe, prosecutors say the procurement officer instructed co-conspirators to lie to investigators.
Randall is due back in court next month. His defense attorney declined to comment on the case.
The city of Richmond provided a statement from Mayor Danny Avula in response to the case.
"While I can’t speak about the recent legal actions, I am proud of the recent overhaul to the Richmond Fire Department to strengthen operations and reinforce accountability. Beginning in November 2025, we restructured the Richmond Fire Department by:
- Appointing a new fire chief
- Creating a new oversight position (Senior Business Officer)
- Implementing a new Anti-Corruption Policy
- Implementing a new Purchasing and Procurement Policy
- Shifting the reporting structure of our public safety agencies to report to the Deputy Chief Administrative of Operations, with regular updates directly to the Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer
"Working with the City Auditor and Office of Inspector General as our partners in improvement, we’ll continue to look for it, find it, and fix it to meet the highest standards of public service. I want Richmonders to know that anyone who defrauds the City will be held accountable. The City of Richmond expects and deserves no less.”
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