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Saturday, July 26, 1997

Federal grand jury probes $33 million VitaPro contract

HOUSTON (AP) - A federal grand jury met Friday to review a $33 million contract - issued without bids - to provide a soy-based meat substitute to the Texas prison system.

The Houston Chronicle has reported the awarding of the contract to VitaPro was approved by a top official who later collected a $20,000 commission on the deal.

Fred Hofheinz, former mayor of Houston, is among those subpoenaed to testify about the VitaPro deal by then-prison system chief James A. "Andy" Collins. Hofheinz lawyer Mike Ramsey was at the federal courthouse with his client on Friday, the attorney's office confirmed for The Associated Press.

Hofheinz is not believed to be directly involved in the probe.

Collins' phone number is unlisted and he could not immediately be reached for comment by the AP.

Collins directed the agency to buy the meat substitute from VitaPro through a method called direct purchasing, which allowed him to bypass formal bidding procedures.

State investigations later showed that VitaPro paid Collins his $20,000 commission a month before he resigned his prison post to become a $1,000-a-day consultant for the company.

Janie Thomas, who was the prison system's purchasing director at the time, said the FBI has questioned her extensively about the VitaPro contract. She said numerous employees of the prison system and related entities have testified before the grand jury about the matter.

Questions about the VitaPro contract arose last year shortly after Patrick Graham, a business acquaintance of Collins and Hofheinz, was arrested during a bizarre prison escape scheme.

Graham was carrying a company card from VitaPro at the time he was arrested.

Collins pressured other prison system officials in November 1994 to purchase millions of dollars worth of VitaPro and personally directed officials to serve the soy product to prisoners once a day, Ms. Thomas said.

"Mr. Collins told me to rewrite the menu" to place VitaPro on every prisoner's plate once a day, she said.

Prisoners hated the meat substitute, saying it caused boils, diarrhea, painful gas and even cancer, according to court documents.

Originally, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice had hoped to make money by reselling VitaPro to other correctional agencies around the country. But the attempt failed.

A state district judge ultimately invalidated the VitaPro contract; the direct purchasing system was abandoned after an audit documented widespread abuses.

Ms. Thomas said at least four state employees resigned in the wake of the VitaPro investigation.

The VitaPro contract is the second matter involving Collins that has been the subject of the grand jury probe, which began in the spring of 1996, an official said.

The grand jury also is examining a contract in which Collins was hired to manage a private prison under construction in Louisiana. That deal is part of a New Orleans-based federal probe of former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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