BLM employee faces corruption charges

A former U.S. Bureau of Land Management employee is facing charges in a public corruption case involving an alleged scheme to defraud the federal agency by steering contracts to his son. The U.S. Attorney's office said a federal grand jury has indicted 57-year-old Luis Ramirez of Medford on charges of wire fraud, personal financial conflict of interest and making of a false tax return statement. Federal prosecutors say Ramirez had private contractors subcontract their work to his son while Ramirez was the BLM representative responsible for approving work and submitting invoices to BLM for payment to the contractors...read more