BOSTON — The person formerly in charge of safety for Boston Public Schools’ fleet of school buses has been arrested and charged with soliciting bribes from vendors who worked on the buses.
Michael Muller, 59, of Millbury, was the former Director of Fleets and Facilities for “Transportation Company,” which had a contract with BPS to manage the operations and maintenance of BPS’s fleet of over 700 school buses, according to the Department of Justice.
Between 2010 and December 2021, Muller allegedly solicited and accepted more than $870,000 in bribes and kickbacks from five different vendors responsible for cleaning the buses, making autobody and mechanical repairs, and plowing snow from the bus yards.
The alleged bribes allegedly included cash, checks, a used pickup truck worth $15,000 and $85,000 in building materials for Muller’s vacation house. Muller also allegedly required one vendor to hire his adult child.
Prosecutors allege Muller conspired to have “Vendor Two,” whose company power-washed the fleet of buses and the engines, to inflate Vendor Two’s invoices by claiming to have washed more engines than Vendor Two actually had. Muller then allegedly told Vendor Two to pay him part of their total revenues from the Transportation Company as a kickback.
Prosecutors claim Muller hounded Vendor Two as soon as the Transportation Company mailed Vendor Two a check, demanding to meet as soon as the check cleared so that Muller could collect his cut.
Muller and Vendor Two allegedly exchanged the following texts in 2016-2018:
Muller: “Did the eagle land?” Vendor Two: “Not there yesterday. Will see on Monday.”
Vendor Two: “Check did not clear. You got $2,500 last week. $5,000 this week. $500 more next week. $8,000 total….” Muller: “Just add to engine u owe for February.”
Muller: “What time we meeting and were [sic]? We can meet on pike at rest stop if that works. Also are u giving my whole half or half of what you have? I have today off and want to do some shopping so sooner would be great.”
Vendor Two: “Bank opens @9 am. Rest area @ Natick.”
— Alleged series of text messages between Muller and Vendor Two.
Prosecutors also claim that Muller conspired to have “Vendor Three” invoice the Transportation Company $189,444 for work that Vendor Three never performed, cleaning snow off the roofs of BPS buses, and paying Muller most of the money.
Muller also allegedly demanded “Vendor Four” pay him a 5% kickback on Vendor Four’s revenues from the Transportation Company. Vendor Four sometimes paid the kickback with checks made out to a landscaping company Muller owned, in exchange for fake invoices from the landscaping company for services it never performed.
As part of the same indictment, John Colantuoni, 60, of Westwood, was also charged with paying bribes to Muller as an agent of BPS.
Colantuoni’s company allegedly bought around $85,000 in building materials from a lumber company for Muller’s vacation house in Pascoag, Rhode Island, and, simultaneously, Colantuoni’s company received a dramatic uptick in revenue from Muller’s Transportation Company.
Muller allegedly concealed his business relationship with Colantuoni by telling the lumber company that Colantuoni was his uncle and Colantuoni allegedly tried to keep Muller’s address off the lumber company’s invoices, at one point telling the lumber company to use a false address in Falmouth, Mass.
Prosecutors claim that Colantuoni testified in the grand jury and made false and misleading statements about his company’s purchase of the building materials for Muller.
“Families and taxpayers trust that the people overseeing their children’s school buses are doing the right thing, not looking for a payout. As alleged, these defendants broke that trust — treating taxpayer-funded contracts as a source of illicit income and, for years, siphoning off money that should have supported students. Their alleged conduct undermines confidence in a system that families rely on every day,” said United States Attorney Leah B. Foley in a statement. “We are committed to rooting out corruption wherever it occurs and ensuring that public dollars are used for public good.”
Muller is charged with five counts of soliciting and accepting bribes as an agent of BPS, five counts of conspiring to commit bribery, five counts of conspiring to commit honest services mail fraud and four counts of extortion. Colantuoni is charged with one count of paying bribes to Muller as an agent of BPS, one count of conspiring to commit bribery, one count of conspiring to commit honest services mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice
“No comment!” said Muller outside Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston’s Seaport Friday. “Come on, man, no comment... Please move out of my way.”
A federal judge inside released Muller on conditions agreed upon by the defense and the government.
The prosecution did not seek detention for the charges.
The judge claimed the most serious charge carries a sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Boston 25 legal analyst Peter Elikann has been following the case on Friday.
“No one is going to smile upon this charge if it is in fact true and correct,” he said Friday. “Is he picking the companies that are going to keep the children safe the most? Or, is he picking companies that will fatten his wallet more?”
He finished, “This would be a serious, serious abuse of public trust -- violation of the idea of keeping children safe... It is often very difficult to win against the federal government.”
Colantuoni was arrested in Florida this morning and will make his initial appearance in federal court in Tampa on Friday.
Colantuoni will appear in Boston at a later date.
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