Being a convicted ‘sexual predator’ didn’t keep him from getting $700K in suburban VA hospital deals – By Josh Salman (USA Today) / Aug 28 2020
Federal contracting rules don’t exclude sex offenders like Ezekiel Lopez, who did 3 years for sexually abusing 2 teenage girls. But asked about his deals, the VA fired his company.
Ezekiel Lopez is a registered child sexual predator in Illinois who spent more than three years in prison for sexually abusing two teenage girls under his care in Rolling Meadows.
But the conviction didn’t keep Lopez, 49, from getting more than $700,000 in federal contracts to provide cleaning and janitorial services to help fight COVID-19 at the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital south of Maywood.
Government contractors are supposed to indicate on their applications whether they’ve had any felony convictions in the past two years. But Lopez was convicted in 2007.
And the federal government can ban vendors convicted of fraud or other procurement violations from future contracts, usually for up to three years. But that doesn’t include sex crimes.
Continue to article: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/8/28/21404534/hines-va-hospital-ezekiel-lopez-americas-best-at-work-covid19-coronavirus-janitorial-contracts
