Conflict of interest.  Bribery.  And improper billing for maintenance services.  Those are the accusations against Dennis Nilsson, James Mayle and Janie Rankins-Mayle, who were booked at the Sacramento Main Jail on Wednesday.
 
Stern: “Basically, they were creating work and over-billing for it and making sure this work was steered to a particular company.” 
 
Marv Stern is with the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office.
 
Stern: “One of the public employees was married to the woman who ran the maintenance company.  The other employee was the person within the library system who authorized payment for these particular jobs.” 
 
Stern says Rankins-Mayle’s company, Hagginwood Services, Inc., handled general maintenance work at buildings throughout the library system.  And Stern says the library paid Hagginwood $1.3 million for the work – far more than it was worth.
 
Stern: “Certainly, some of that was justified because they did perform work.  The question is, really, how much were they overcharged?  And that’s something that will be fought out in court.” 
 
In return, Stern says, Hagginwood sent Nilsson – the library’s former maintenance director – more than $90,000 in kickbacks.
 
The library system is run jointly by the city and county of Sacramento, and officials there referred media inquires to the board’s chairman, City Councilman Robbie Waters.  Waters did not return our messages before airtime.
 
Meanwhile, Nilsson’s lawyer did not return our call for comment.  James Mayle, however, did call us back late Wednesday afternoon; he referred us to his lawyer – whom we couldn’t reach, either.