Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office announced its arrest of Freddie V. Vengrouskie on Monday for soliciting or receiving employment from a business after directly regulating it and soliciting or accepting a thing of value as an employee of a regulatory body.
Vengrouskie, 59, lives in Decatur. He surrendered to agents of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday and was released on bond. He was formerly an Onsite Environmental Supervisor with the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Vengrouskie was indicted after the AG’s Special Prosecutions Division presented evidence to a Montgomery County grand jury.
The indictment charges that Vengrouskie was a public employee who personally participated in the direct regulation of a private business and intentionally solicited or accepted employment with that business within two years of his departure from state employment and solicited or accepted a thing of value while he was employed by a regulatory body.
If convicted, Vengrouskie faces a maximum penalty of two to 20 years of imprisonment and up to a $30,000 fine for each of the charges, which are class B felonies.
An indictment is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Vengrouskie will have an opportunity to present his defense before a jury of his peers in a future trial.
