Ex-FBI agent Lustyik's accomplice from Tarrytown pleads guilty

• Johannes Thaler pleaded guilty to obstruction and conspiracy charges.
• Thaler is a former Tarrytown resident.
• Officials said he was an accomplice in a bribery scheme led by his childhood friend.
• His friend is a former FBI agent.

A former Tarrytown man who federal authorities said was an accomplice in a bribery scheme led by a former FBI agent has pleaded guilty to corruption charges.

Authorities said Johannes Thaler, 50, acted as a messenger between the agent — his childhood friend Robert Lustyik — and contractor Michael Taylor, who was being investigated for defrauding the government out of a $54 million defense contract in Afghanistan.

Lustyik, a Sleepy Hollow resident, was accused in 2012 of trying to thwart a government probe of Taylor in exchange for hefty bribes. He pleaded guilty on Monday to federal fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges.

Thaler pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to commit bribery, obstruction of a grand jury proceeding and obstruction of an agency proceeding, the Department of Justice said in a statement. His lawyer, Daniel Calabro, didn't respond to a phone message seeking comment

"These plea agreements demonstrate that federal law enforcement officers who sell their badges for cash and frustrate the administration of justice will be held accountable for their actions," Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz said in a statement. "Department employees are held to the highest standards, and we cannot permit our criminal justice system to be stained by such bribery and corruption."

Both men are still awaiting trial on a second indictment, facing charges they, along with a third man, conspired to gather damaging information about a Bangladeshi political figure in exchange for bribes.

Thaler is due to be sentenced on the first set of charges in January.