Businessman pleads in $1.2M fraud of City

A 65-year-old Philadelphia businessman admitted in court this morning that he defrauded the city out of more than $1.2 million.

Barry Jones, principal owner of a Haddonfield-based information-technology firm, Mara Management Services Inc., pleaded guilty in federal court to mail fraud.

Jones hired subcontractors for much of the work the city paid him to do, prosecutors say, but he overstated the number of hours that the subcontractors worked, pocketing the extra payments.

In all, the city paid Jones $5.9 million between 2004 and 2008 for contracts with its Revenue and Water Departments, along with Community Behavioral Health, a city-related nonprofit that gives mental health and substance abuse advice to Philadelphia Medicaid recipients.

Sentencing is scheduled for November 14.

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