Inmates plead guilty in prison embezzlement scheme

BRUNSWICK - Two federal inmates have pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $138,000 from the Bureau of Prisons by establishing a fraudulent company and billing the government for nonexistent products. <br> <br> Two 35-year-old men, Marcel Mays and Jose Linares, entered the pleas before Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony Alaimo on Wednesday as part of an agreement with prosecutors. <br> <br> Investigators said Mays and Linares used a computer system assigned to UNICOR, a unit of the Bureau of Prisons that provides jobs for federal inmates. At the Jesup prison UNICOR operates a textile factory with inmate-employees making military uniforms. <br> <br> Last year, prison officials detected discrepancies while reviewing computer files for UNICOR contracts and related invoices for supplies allegedly purchased from TYBY Textiles in Shaker Heights, Ohio. <br> <br> A prison manager noticed high costs for materials purportedly purchased from TYBY, which investigators later learned was an acronym for ``Thank You Bill Young,&#39;&#39; a reference to an associate warden. <br> <br> Mays is serving a 19-year term for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Linares is a former Lawrence, Massachusetts, police officer serving ten years for bank robbery and use of a firearm during the commission of a crime. <br> <br> Alaimo has not scheduled a sentencing date.