The FBI announced May 11 court documents were recently unsealed in relation to the guilty plea entered by Matthew McTish, 57, of Orefield.

U.S Attorney Zane David Memeger said McTish pleaded guilty April 28 to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery offenses.

McTish faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison, a possible fine, three years of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment.

U.S. District Judge Juan R. Sanchez scheduled an Aug. 2 sentencing hearing for McTish.

McTish, was the former president of McTish, Kunkel and Associates, an engineering firm in South Whitehall, which heavily relied on contracts with governmental organizations, including Allentown and Reading.

According to the FBI, public official No. 1 of Reading, and public official No. 3 of Allentown, allegedly made clear to subordinates and donors favorable official action would be withheld from certain donors who failed to provide satisfactory campaign contributions.

These same elected officials allegedly directly and indirectly communicated to certain donors they were expected to provide items of value, including campaign contributions, in return for certain past or prospective official actions in Reading and Allentown, the press release states.

Public official No. 1 and public official No. 3 allegedly identified certain engineering firms, including McTish’s, as promising targets for their pay-to-play schemes.

The FBI press release stated both public officials believed these firms were particularly vulnerable to fundraising solicitations by elected city officials because of the firms’ reliance on municipal contracts and their desire to win contracts in Reading and Allentown.

According to the press release, they also believed for these firms, losing thousands of dollars to campaign treasuries was more acceptable than being shut out of consideration for millions of dollars’ worth of contracts.

According to the FBI, McTish admitted that under pressure from both public officials and their subordinates, he agreed to remit thousands of dollars of campaign contributions in order to keep his company viable for consideration for municipal contracts in the two cities.

McTish agreed to continue raising such contributions for public official No. 1 even after he lost re-election so public official No. 1 could help McTish’s firm before leaving office.

McTish also agreed to reward Mary Ellen Koval with a campaign contribution for her efforts in helping public official No. 3 trying to steer a contract to his company.

After paying campaign contributions to reward Koval and public official No. 3 for their efforts to steer an Allentown city contract to his company, McTish learned the city had cancelled its plans for the contract, the press release states.

According to the FBI, when McTish met with public official No. 3 to discuss the prospects of future engineering contracts with the City of Allentown, public official No. 3 asked for even more money – this time asking McTish to raise at least $21,600 before a federal campaign reporting deadline of June 30, 2015.

Public official No. 3 allegedly claimed winning the federal campaign would allow him to provide greater assistance to McTish’s company.

McTish, according to the FBI’s press release, was unhappy with public official No. 3’s demand but gave a $2,500 contribution in order to maintain his company’s viability for future contracts from the City of Allentown.

The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, and Pennsylvania State Police.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joe Khan, Michelle Morgan, and Anthony Wzorek.