Farhad “Fred” Monem, 52, is wanted on federal charges that he took $1.2 million in kickbacks from food vendors selling distressed foods to the state Corrections Department, The Oregonian reported last week.
But Monem appears unhappy in Iran and willing to exchange freedom there for jail time 
in the United States—as long as it isn’t too much jail time.
In recent e-mails to The Oregonian, Monem wrote: “I know it wasn’t right what I did but I never hurt anyone. I always did my job right. I just take some of their profit,” Monem said. He said the state got good prices, vendors got sales and he got money. “It was win-win situation,” he said. His comments last week were his first since he fled the country in 2007.
Monem made his comments to The Oregonian as a federal judge on March 3 spared his wife, Karen, from federal prison after she pleaded guilty to participating in the kickback scheme her husband was running.
Karen, 47, was sentenced to one year in prison at her trial, but her date to begin her sentence was postponed several times so she could take care of her sick mother and son, who live with her in Salem. The prosecution last week recommended Karen be sentenced instead to probation and four months of home detention. The judge agreed and canceled her one-year sentence.
Karen currently works as a store clerk and would be allowed to leave her house only to go to her job.
“Karen Monem has complied with all the requirements that the court imposed since she accepted responsibility,” said Assistant US Attorney Chris Cardani.
On October 19, 2007, a federal grand jury in Eugene indicted Monem on 20 counts relating to the alleged kickback scheme. The charges stem from Monem’s former employment as the food services administrator for the Oregon Department of Corrections. He faces charges of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, bribery, money laundering, and interstate travel in aid of racketeering.
Court records show Monem took kickbacks from five food vendors for a period of six years beginning in 2000. The vendors sold foods pulled out from normal distribution because they had either expired, been packaged wrong or were manufacturers’ overstock. Such foods typically are deeply discounted, and allowed Monem to drive down the costs of feeding Oregon’s 14,000 inmates.
Vendors bribed Monem with cash, delivering it to his home in Salem or giving it to him directly during trips to Las Vegas. Federal agents found more than $500,000 in cash when they searched his home and safe deposit boxes in early 2007.
In an e-mail, Monem wrote: “I got money from them because I knew how much they are making from us.”
He said federal prosecutors “want to fry me for my mistake,” adding that he has been offered a six- to eight-year prison sentence. “I would come back and face the court if they give me the same thing, the offer [to] others,” he said, alluding to the four food vendors who had pled guilty to bribing Monem and no more than three months in prison.
Monem wrote that life in his native Iran is “very hard. It would have been easier if I went to jail.” Monem said he returned to Iran to take care of his father. His mother reportedly passed away before he got back.
Despite his offer, prosecutors say they won’t bargain. “Mr. Monem is not in a position where he can negotiate terms with the government after he abandoned the state of Oregon, and abandoned his own family knowing that he was being investigated for public corruption,” Cardani said.
Monem said he isn’t working in Iran because his father is “well off.” He said he will return to the United States if he can get an acceptable plea deal. “I would love to come back to my country,” Monem said. “I grew up there. I never had any problem there. I love everyone there.”
