A man who was formerly responsible for managing the operations and maintenance of Boston Public Schools' fleet of over 700 buses was arrested and charged Friday for allegedly soliciting more than $870,000 in bribes and kickbacks over a decade from vendors who worked on the buses and in the bus yards.
Michael Muller, 59, of Millbury, is charged with five counts of soliciting and accepting bribes as an agent of BPS, five counts of conspiring to commit bribery, five counts of conspiring to commit honest services mail fraud and four counts of extortion, the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts announced Friday.
After he appeared in Boston's federal court, he declined to comment to reporters, but said he felt like he was an honest person.
One of the vendors who allegedly paid -- John Colantuoni, 60, of Westwood -- was also arrested and has been charged with one count of paying bribes to Muller as an agent of BPS, one count of conspiring to commit bribery, one count of conspiring to commit honest services mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice, according to U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley. Colantuoni was taken into custody in Florida Friday morning and is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court in Tampa, with a future court date in Boston.
"Families and taxpayers trust that the people overseeing their children’s school buses are doing the right thing, not looking for a payout. As alleged, these defendants broke that trust — treating taxpayer-funded contracts as a source of illicit income and, for years, siphoning off money that should have supported students," Foley said in a statement announcing the charges against Muller and Colantuoni. "Their alleged conduct undermines confidence in a system that families rely on every day."
Boston Public Schools said in a statement Friday that they contacted law enforcement and worked to ensure that Muller was fired after becoming aware of the allegations in 2022.
"The new bus contract, signed in 2023, requires greater transparency and stronger oversight of payments for maintenance and facilities related work. BPS will continue to fully cooperate with law enforcement to ensure individuals who have betrayed the public trust are held fully accountable," the statement said.
While the U.S. Attorney's Office for Massachusetts didn't identify the company, Transdev has been Boston Public Schools' school bus contractor, and the company released a statement late Friday saying that it has cooperated with the investigation, of which it was never the target, and "we appreciate the efforts of the City of Boston and federal authorities in holding individuals accountable and safeguarding the integrity of our business." Read the full statement below.
Federal prosecutors, citing court documents, say that Muller, whose employer the “Transportation Company" had a contract with BPS, allegedly supervised all the employees who worked in the yards where buses were kept when not on the road, and his job was to “ensure that BPS’s fleet is safe, well-maintained and ready for service on a daily basis.”
Muller also allegedly managed and supervised all of the vendors that the Transportation Company subcontracted work out to for cleaning the buses, making autobody and mechanical repairs, and plowing the snow from the bus yards. Muller had the authority to fire these vendors, who gave their invoices to the Transportation Company, which forwarded them to BPS without any markup, and then BPS paid the invoice amounts to the Transportation Company, allegedly from its annual transportation budget funded by taxpayer money. Finally, the Transportation Company mailed checks to the vendors.
Between 2010 and December 2021, federal prosecutors allege that Muller solicited and accepted a total of more than $870,000 in bribes and kickbacks from Colantuoni and four other vendors that included, among other things, cash, checks, a used pickup truck worth $15,000 and $85,000 in building materials for Muller’s vacation house. Muller also allegedly required one vendor to hire his adult child.
According to the 21-page indictment, Muller conspired to have “Vendor Two,” whose company power-washed the outside of BPS school buses and the engines, to inflate Vendor Two’s invoices by claiming to have washed more engines than Vendor Two actually had. Muller also allegedly told Vendor Two to pay him part of their total revenues from the Transportation Company as a kickback, and was hounding Vendor Two as soon as the Transportation Company mailed a check so Muller could collect his cut.
Muller and Vendor Two allegedly exchanged the following texts in 2016-2018:
As for "Vendor Three," Muller allegedly conspired to have them invoice the Transportation Company $189,444 for work they never performed – specifically, cleaning snow off the roofs of BPS buses – and pay Muller most of the money.
Additionally, Muller allegedly demanded “Vendor Four” pay him a 5% kickback on their revenues from the Transportation Company. Vendor Four sometimes paid the kickback with checks made out to a landscaping company Muller owned, in exchange for fake invoices from the landscaping company for services it never performed.
Federal prosecutors say Colantuoni was the president and half-owner of a small construction and landscaping company in Norwood, Mass. The indictment alleges that Colantuoni’s company bought approximately $85,000 in building materials from a lumber company for Muller’s vacation house in Pascoag, Rhode Island, and, at the same time, revenues to Colantuoni’s company from the Transportation Company increased dramatically.
Muller allegedly tried to hide his business relationship with Colantuoni by telling the lumber company that Colantuoni was his uncle. Colantuoni allegedly tried to keep Muller’s address off the lumber company’s invoices, at one point telling the lumber company to use a false address in Falmouth, Mass. The indictment went on to allege that Colantuoni testified in the grand jury and made false and misleading statements about his company’s purchase of the building materials for Muller.
“Today’s arrests are shining a light on an alleged bribery and kickback scheme spearheaded by the manager of a company entrusted by Boston Public Schools to maintain its fleet of vehicles used to transport the city’s most precious cargo, its children,” Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, said in the joint statement. “These two men stand accused of padding their income with ease, turning a tidy profit at the expense of taxpayers. Add in the allegations of extortion and obstruction of justice and you’ve practically got a playbook of the varied ways to violate the public’s trust. Make no mistake, the FBI will continue to work with our partners to ensure those who violate their obligations to the public are brought to justice.”
"We are committed to rooting out corruption wherever it occurs and ensuring that public dollars are used for public good,” Foley added.
Attorney information for Muller and Colantuoni was not immediately available.
Read Transdev's full statement here:
Transdev values the trust of our clients and the communities we serve. Integrity is the foundation of our ability to deliver safe, reliable transportation. Through our unwavering commitment to excellence and ethical practices, Transdev has earned its position as a trusted leader in global mobility.
While we cannot comment on the specific details of this investigation, we can confirm that Transdev was aware of the Department of Justice inquiry and cooperated fully throughout the process. Importantly, Transdev was never a target of the investigation.
We are proud to have assisted in identifying and reporting violations of our policies and work culture, and we appreciate the efforts of the City of Boston and federal authorities in holding individuals accountable and safeguarding the integrity of our business. Transdev will continue to review the details of today’s indictment and will aggressively take action against anyone who may have been involved in this organized effort to steal from the people of Boston. The individual named in this case, Michael Muller, has not been employed by Transdev since February 22, 2022.
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