Man Arrested in Kickback Scheme : Crime: The Laguna Niguel construction consultant is charged with 24 counts for his part in an alleged operation to defraud the U.S.

John R. Sevier III, an Orange County construction consultant indicted last week on charges that he masterminded a kickback scheme that defrauded the U.S. Small Business Administration, has been arrested and released on bail.

A federal grand jury indicted Sevier on Friday on 24 felony counts for his role in the $175,000 scheme, which involved inflated billing on three U.S. government projects. Late that evening, he was arrested at his Laguna Niguel home, Assistant U.S. Atty. Nathan J. Hochman said.

On Monday, U.S. Magistrate Volney Brown Jr. set bail at $75,000. Sevier, who spent the weekend at the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center, put up $1,000 in cash. Brown gave him a week to come up with a property bond for the remaining amount, Hochman said.

M. Joseph Heneghan, a Laguna Hills lawyer who spoke with Sevier on Monday about the possibility of representing him as a client, said Sevier is traumatized. “He was arrested in front of his kids,” he said.

According to the indictment, the kickback scheme started in 1990, when Southern Specialty Co., a Nevada construction company, failed to complete three of 11 projects for the Navy and Air Force.

The government hired Forcon International Inc., an Irvine construction consultant, to search for a new subcontractor. Forcon, in turn, hired Sevier to conduct the search.

The indictment said Sevier arranged for a Temecula firm, Paragon Pacific Contractors Inc., to be awarded the contracts. In return, the firm was to inflate the bills far in excess of the legitimate cost of $171,804.60. Sevier used the extra money to pay some of his personal debts, the indictment states.

Sevier, who was still in detention early Monday evening pending his release, could not be reached for comment. Officials at Paragon Pacific could not be reached for comment. Hochman said the company may have gone out of business recently.