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Conspirator Gets Prison In Road Contractor's Fraud Case

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 6, 2008

TAMPA – The former human resources director for Cone Constructors was sentenced this morning to three years in federal prison for conspiring with Michael Cone to commit bankruptcy fraud.

Patricia Rankin Grable, 53, testified at Cone's sentencing hearing last week that she and Cone were motivated by greed to hide assets from a bankruptcy court.

Once one of the largest road contractors in the state, Cone was sentenced last week to 15 years in prison on the federal bankruptcy charge, to run consecutive to a five-year state prison sentence for conspiring to defraud the state.

His wife, Joanne, is scheduled to be sentenced in June.

Rankin must help Cone and his wife pay more than $1 million in restitution.

Rankin was given credit for cooperating with the government, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Porcelli said helped persuade Cone to plead guilty, avoiding the need for a trial that was expected to last about a month.

Rankin, who started working for Cone in 1996 or 1997, testified she posed as president of a mining company that Cone used to hide his assets during his 1999 bankruptcy.

She said Cone gave her documents that were backdated, making it look as though Cone Constructors had sold vehicles and construction equipment to the mining company before the bankruptcy. She said she gave the documents to the court and to a grand jury, vouching for their authenticity. She said she also moved company documents for Cone from storage shed to storage shed, ultimately taking them to a dump when she became disgusted over being stuck with a storage bill.

"Mike Cone told me, once this was all said and done, he would give me $250,000, but I took less, about $218,000, or $220, 000," she testified. She said she wrote herself a check, and that Cone became upset "because he said he wanted to pay me in annual installments, not a lump sum."

Asked under cross-examination why she lied to the court, she said, "Greedy. … We all were."

Ten years ago, Cone Constructors had some 300 employees in Hillsborough County and did $60 million in business. The company had done about $323 million in road contracting with Florida during the previous 10 years and probably was one of the 10 largest contractors with the Department of Transportation, state officials said at the time.

The company worked on major projects, including the Veterans Expressway, Polk Parkway and Suncoast Parkway.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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