A federal grand jury has indicted three men who are accused of a 13-year bid rigging scheme that allegedly affected at least 44 public schools in Mississippi and 270 purchases totaling more than $1 million in taxpayer funds.
Jon “Tank” Christopher Burt and Gerald “Jerry” Steven Lavender, both of Columbus, and Jack “Jay” Nelson Purvis Jr., of Laurel, are each charged with one count of bid rigging in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
Burt is charged with a second count of bid rigging alleging a separate conspiracy involving additional companies and co-conspirators.
The indictment, filed Wednesday in the Northern District of Mississippi, alleges the men conspired to submit intentionally higher-priced “complementary bids” to ensure predetermined winners on sports equipment contracts, and on occasion, concealed those bids from school employees.
“Burt, Lavender, and Purvis allowed greed to drive them to mislead multiple schools, manipulate the competitive bidding process, and exploit the desire to provide children with quality sporting equipment for their own personal gain,” Robert Eikhoff, special agent in charge of the FBI Jackson Field Office, said in a press release. “The FBI and our federal partners will not allow criminals to rob our public-school systems and walk away without consequences. They will be held accountable and face justice.”
How the scheme allegedly worked
State law requires public schools to obtain at least two competitive written bids for any purchase exceeding $5,000. Schools typically award the contracts to the lowest bidder.
Prosecutors allege the defendants skirted that requirement by coordinating in advance who would win the contracts, then submitting intentionally higher sham bids to appear competitive.
The indictment names Lavender as the owner of “Company 1,” referring to Sports Specialty Inc., which has operated in Columbus since 1992, according to Secretary of State records. Burt is named as an employee of the company, making Lavender his supervisor. Purvis is identified as the co-owner of “Company 2,” a separate supplier.
The indictment alleges the three men agreed with multiple sales representatives and companies to “suppress and eliminate competition” by rigging the bidding process and receiving contracts as a result.
In one example cited in the indictment, Burt allegedly emailed a co-conspirator regarding a quote for game baseballs to an unnamed university, instructing the recipient to bid at a higher price.
“LOOK AT MY QUOTE AND MAKE YOURS $89 PER DOZEN,” Burt allegedly wrote after submitting a bid for $86.95 per dozen baseballs.
In another example, Burt emailed a complementary bid to a coach in November 2022.
“PLEASE DON’T FORWARD THIS EMAIL WITH THESE QUOTES ON IT,” the email read, according to the indictment. “JUST PRINT IT OFF.”
In July 2023, the indictment said Burt sent an email to co-conspirator Doug Heflin with a copy of a spreadsheet attached that contained Burt’s quote form. Heflin, former general manager of Starkville’s Parks and Recreation, pleaded guilty to bid rigging in March 2025.
“Heflin understood that he had Burt’s permission to use Burt’s quote form to submit complementary bids,” the indictment reads.
In a second county, Burt is accused of conspiring with Heflin, another company and two other co-conspirators to suppress competition. Those efforts included agreeing not to compete for certain bids in a co-conspirator’s territory, agreeing in advance who would win the bid and receiving those contracts, among others.
A 2022 text message conversation between Burt and an unnamed co-conspirator is included as an example. The co-conspirator attached a picture of a quote from an unnamed company for an unnamed school.
“Please keep that confidential,” the co-conspirator wrote in the text message. “Heck, I may not be supposed to do that??? Is that something we do?”
“All the time,” Burt responded in a text. “Hell (Co-Conspirator 3) and 1/2 of (Company 5) sales force has a copy of my quote sheet they use. And I don’t care. It is probably illegal but I can only do so much. Glad someone is selling something to people.”
Investigation ongoing
The indictments resulted from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the school sports equipment industry being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Mississippi.
Bid rigging is a violation of the Sherman Act, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine. The fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence.
Anyone with information about this investigation or other procurement fraud schemes should notify the Procurement Collusion Strike Force at justice.gov/procurement-collusion-strike-force.
this article has been edited since it’s original publication to correct the spelling of Bert’s first name.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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