Pair pleads guilty in $150K MacDill Air Force Base kickback scheme

Two men pleaded guilty this month to defrauding the intramural sports program at Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base for more than a decade, federal prosecutors say. 

Keith Pilawski, 63, of Lutz, and Edwin Ortiz, 58, of Brandon, each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and face a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. As part of their plea agreements, Pilawski has agreed to forfeit $67,183, and Ortiz has agreed to forfeit $163,300 — “the proceeds of criminal conduct,” according to a statement from the Middle District of Florida U.S. Attorney Gregory Kehoe. 

A sentencing date has not yet been set. 

According to the indictment, Pilawski became the intramural sports director at MacDill following his military retirement in 2006. The year-round intramural sports program is supported by congressionally appropriated U.S. Air Force funds, court filings say, and employs outside contractors as officials or referees for its games at a maximum total cost to the government of $5,000 per season, per sport.

“The way the system was supposed to work was that, at the beginning of each intramural sports season, Pilawski would recruit teams, set the games schedule, and then determine the number of officials needed based on the number of teams and games scheduled,” court filings say. “Pilawski was expected to use active-duty members to meet officiating needs before relying on officials/referees provided by outside contractors, such as Ortiz.”

But from at least 2009 and 2024, court documents say Pilawski steered all officiating duties to a company owned by Ortiz instead of selecting the least expensive contractor, and even scheduled games around Ortiz’s schedule.

Pilawski also authorized payments to Ortiz for services that were not covered under his contract with MacDill and at times were not even performed, officials alleged. Ortiz then kicked back a portion of the overpayments to Pilawski. At times, Pilawski even worked for and was paid by Ortiz to work as an official/referee at MacDill intramural games even though those duties were already required under his official job description. 

“In other words, Pilawski was double-dipping, being paid twice for the same refereeing work: by the Air Force via his salary and by Ortiz via the (blanket purchase agreement) that Pilawski administered, essentially approving extra payments to himself,” court filings say. 

An investigation by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations found that, over that 15-year period, the two stole more than $150,000 from MacDill’s sports program. 

More than 13,000 military and civilian personnel report to MacDill, the third-largest Air Force base in Florida known as the operations hub for the U.S. military’s missions to the Middle East. It is home to the U.S. Central Command and the US Special Operations Command, along with several other Air Force groups.