SEPTA manager took bribes of Barbra Streisand tickets, pope’s visit hotel stays, and thousands in cash, feds say

Federal authorities on Friday accused a former SEPTA manager of steering contracts worth millions to a company executive who showered him with bribes including cash, Barbra Streisand tickets and pricey hotel stays.

Prosecutors say James Stevens, the transit agency’s ex-director of video evidence, routinely extorted payoffs from Robert Welsh, the former chief operating officer of Delaware-based Spector Logistics, while the company held SEPTA’s $4.6 million general maintenance contract for surveillance equipment between 2014 and 2019.

Stevens, 69, of Somerdale, Camden County, also allegedly sent work worth millions more to Spector and another company Welsh owned.

Both men were charged in a 16-count indictment unsealed Thursday including charges of conspiracy, bribery, extortion, and honest services fraud. The most serious count each man faces could send them to prison for up to 20 years.

“SEPTA exists to transport people where they want to go — not to move crooked insiders up a tax bracket,” said Jacqueline Maguire, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia office. “Stealing public money through backdoor deals is reprehensible and the FBI will hold accountable anyone foolish enough to engage in this kind of fraud.”

Stevens’ attorney, Rhonda Pantellas Low, did not return calls for comment on Friday, and it was not clear from court records whether Welsh, 59, of Arizona, had retained a lawyer.

Their arrests are the latest scandal for the Philadelphia region’s public transportation system, which has seen a series of federal bribery cases lodged against managers and employees in recent years.

Seven former SEPTA maintenance mangers have pleaded guilty over the last year for bilking SEPTA out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by colluding with vendors to charge for goods that were never provided. In exchange, they extorted bribes including hunting supplies, ATV equipment, rare gold coins, and even a whippet puppy.

SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch declined Friday to discuss the charges against Stevens and Welsh, except to say the agency would continue cooperating with investigators as the case moves forward. Yet, government court filings describe an equally brazen level of corruption.

“Stevens routinely told … Welsh that SEPTA could terminate Spector’s valuable general maintenance contract” at any time, the indictment said. He “required that … Welsh provide him with things of value requested by Stevens or risk losing the contract.”

Those things allegedly included: monthly cash payments that totaled more than $85,000 over a period of four years, Center City hotel tabs for Stevens during the Pope’s 2015 visit to Philadelphia, meals and drinks at restaurants and bars — including footing the bill for holiday parties for Stevens’ department at SEPTA, and supposed donations to a charity golf tournament that prosecutors say Stevens pocketed for himself.

Additionally, the indictment says, Stevens extorted a guarantee from Welsh that he would provide him with future employment after his retirement from SEPTA.

Prosecutors point to the fact that the men took pains to hide their communications about the bribe payments as proof that they were aware of the corrupt nature of their relationship.

Stevens, despite working for SEPTA, sent all communications to Welsh through an email address set up on Spector’s service in which he adopted the user name “arkroyal,” an apparent reference to the name of two British Royal Navy aircraft carriers, one of which was sunk by a U-Boat in the World War II.

Welsh also purportedly purchased a cellphone and service for Stevens so they could keep their communications hidden.

At a brief hearing Friday in federal court, Stevens pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on a $50,000 recognizance bond. Welsh is expected to make an initial court appearance in the coming days.

U.S. District Judge Berle M. Schiller has not yet set a date for their trial.