Quantell Exec. Gets 1 Year In Defense Contracting Fraud Case

BALTIMORE (AP) -- An operator of two small government contracting companies who stole more than $1.5 million from employee benefit plans, has been sentenced to a year in prison.

Fifty-year-old Joanne Tucker of Keymar was also ordered to pay restitution at sentencing Thursday in federal court in Baltimore.

Joanne Tucker and her husband Shaun Tuckers were majority owners of Quantell Inc. and Intaset Technologies Corp. Prosecutors say they lied to the government to win contracts for work in California, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina and Virginia.

Federal prosecutors say the Tuckers spent the money on three homes or office buildings, a 45-foot sailboat and high-priced cars.

Shaun Tucker was sentenced last month to 8 years in prison.

(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)