DENVER | A Regional Transportation District supervisor from Aurora was found guilty Wednesday, Feb. 3, of accepting bribes in connection to his job.
Kenneth P. Hardin, 62, was convicted of three of four counts of taking bribes in connection with his official duties. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in late 2014 on suspicion of taking thousands of dollars in bribes.
During the three-day trial, prosecutors outlined Hardin’s role as senior manager of RTD’s Civil Rights Division, which included community outreach and complaint investigation, and that he accepted a series of payments in 2014 to influence his work on RTD business.
The bribes included $1,000 in May and June 2014, and $2,000 in September 2014. As RTD receives federal funding, the bribery relating to RTD programs includes a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 for each of the three counts for which Hardin was convicted.
“Public officials get paid to make other people’s lives better. When they take money to line their own pockets, we will hunt them down and punish them,” said U.S. Attorney John Walsh said in a statement announcing the conviction. “The fact that the jury took just under two hours to return guilty verdicts in this case is a testament to the exceptional skill of the federal criminal investigators and the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who handled this case.”