Federal Crimes

Published on: October 24, 2012

Maryland Federal Court Drug Testers Indicted For Bribery

Federal probation and parole in Maryland got a whole lot easier for some defendants from 2009 to 2010. Well, at least it was for the dozens of defendants who had been convicted of federal crimes, or recently released from federal custody and completed their mandatory drug testing requirements at the Maryland treatment centers of Clean and Sober or Drug and Alcohol Recovery. And it were the drug counselors and drug testers that were allegedly on the take of this large scale pay for pass scheme. According to indictment proceedings that were just released to the public, two former federal contractors from Rockville, Maryland were involved in a long standing bribery operation where drug testing results were falsified in exchange for monetary compensation. Both former drug testers had been under investigation for federal criminal charges including bribery, making false statements, and witness tampering, and both face considerable prison time. According to court documents, one drug tester pleaded guilty to bribery, and is awaiting sentencing while the other was recently indicted. The drug tester who did not plead guilty was arrested soon after the results of the grand jury investigation were released.

The male drug tester pleaded guilty to accepting over 100 bribes from clients that were under federal supervision and required to undergo drug testing and treatment. According to the indictment documents these clients would pay cash to the drug testers, typically $50 per test in exchange for receiving a negative drug test. Many times, the testers would not even bother to conduct an actual drug test, and simply mark off that the patient had passed. The indicted drug testers were also paid upwards of $400 for drug treatment discharge papers when in fact the patient had not successfully completed the treatment. The male drug tester allegedly took more than $10,000 over the course of the 2 year scheme and faces up to 15 years in prison at his sentencing hearing in December.
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Published on: August 22, 2012

Feds Crackdown On Marijuana Dispensaries

By Benjamin Herbst

The ongoing battle marijuana to legalize marijuana in America and in Maryland took another hit recently as Federal prosecutors have increased efforts to crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries. This latest crackdown effort came at the hands of Federal lawyers and court papers rather than with the search warrants and guns of the DEA and FBI. No arrests were made in any of the latest anti marijuana push, but a strong message has been sent across the country that the Feds are not ready to reverse their position on marijuana legalization.

On August 21 Federal prosecutors filed 3 lawsuits in Orange County Florida against property owners who rent their real estate to medical marijuana dispensaries. The property owners were told that they could risk forfeiture of their real estate if they continue to rent space to the marijuana dispensaries. Federal prosecuting lawyers also sent upwards of 60 letters to medical marijuana clinics in Orange County threatening criminal charges if the marijuana clinics continue to sell the drug. Orange County is not the only area being targeted by the Federal efforts to crackdown on medical marijuana as the Feds have been going after marijuana dispensaries throughout the Central District of California.
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Published on: April 10, 2012

Baltimore Drug Dealer Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison

By Benjamin Herbst

A Baltimore area marijuana dealer has been sentenced to over 20 years in prison after the jury found him guilty at trial. Defense lawyers were unable to overcome the strong evidence that federal prosecutors presented during two weeks of testimony in United States district court in Maryland. The convicted Baltimore drug dealer was arrested in 2010 and charged with distribution of marijuana and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Both the internal revenue service and the federal drug enforcement agency participated in the investigation, which ultimately let to a multi count indictment.

The Baltimore man had been charged with selling marijuana over a span of more than 5 years, with the first drug deals allegedly taking place in 2004. Government witnesses testified that the Baltimore dealer was the supervisor of a large scale organization responsible for transporting for sale hundreds of pounds of marijuana from the southwest United States to the east coast and Maryland. Testimony revealed that the Baltimore man had sold nearly 10,000 pounds of marijuana over the course of the drug conspiracy. State witnesses also testified that the drug dealing began with the purchase of about 100 pounds of marijuana from a source in Arizona. These 100 pound purchases grew substantially over time, and by the end of 2005 the Baltimore man was purchasing as much as 900 pounds of marijuana at a time for sale on the east coast.
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Published on: February 24, 2012

Baltimore Police Officers Found Guilty of Extortion

By Benjamin Herbst

Baltimore City police officers were recently found guilty of conspiracy under color of law, and extortion in Federal criminal court. A Federal jury found one officer guilty after trial, and the other accepted a negotiated guilty plea hours before the jury began deliberating. Federal sentencing guidelines provide a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison for conspiracy under color of law, and a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for extortion. A Federal judge will hand down the sentence for the officer, from Edgewood Maryland, convicted at trial at sentencing hearing in March.

These Baltimore City police officers were the last two officers to be found guilty in perhaps the largest police misconduct scandal in the Baltimore Police Department’s history. A total of seventeen officers were charged and convicted of crimes of misconduct including extortion and conspiracy. The scandal began as a kickback scheme where Baltimore officers were paid by a body shop for car accident referrals. More than sixty officers were named as recipients of the kickback money, but only seventeen were charged in Federal court.

The investigation was initiated by the Baltimore Police Department’s internal affairs division, but was later turned over to the FBI. The FBI did not take part in seizing the accused officer’s badges, a job that Baltimore Police Commissioner Bealefeld III handled personally. The corrupt cops were a reportedly summoned to the police department’s training academy under the guise of a routine weapons check. Upon arrival at the academy, the accused officers were no doubt surprised to learn that their kickback scheme had been exposed, and their careers as police officers came to an abrupt but well deserved end.
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