Baltimore County man pleads guilty to bribing state employee to secure cleaning contracts
A Randallstown man has pleaded guilty to bribing a state employee to secure nearly $175,000 in COVID-related cleaning contracts, according to the Maryland Attorney General's Office.
Mark Anthony Sykes, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of bribery of a public employee in Baltimore County Circuit Court. Prosecutors said Sykes paid approximately $20,000 in bribes to the former Director of General Services for the Maryland Department of Labor in exchange for steering state contracts to his company, Building Enterprises LLC.
Between July 2020 and March 2021, Sykes' company received $174,903.25 from the State of Maryland for COVID-related facilities cleaning services through what investigators described as a fraudulent procurement scheme.
Sykes' sentencing is set for April 29.
On March 10, a
73-year-old Maryland man
was charged with lying about his citizenship, misusing social security and committing passport fraud, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
Days later, Nichelle Henson, a
former Baltimore City Council Candidate
was found guilty of COVID-19 relief fraud, after federal prosecutors proved she submitted fraudulent applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Paycheck Protection Program loans for several non-operational businesses.
Earlier this month, Baltimore City officials were alerted to the
theft of $1.5 million
by a fraudulent vendor. A bank alerted the city after an account received two payments, once for $803,000 and another for $721,000. While the money was approved for a vendor, it was directed to an unrelated bank account.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Epic Charter School superintendent resigns after major cuts to staff, facilities
Epic Charter School Superintendent Bart Banfield speaks at a meeting of the school's governing board on Nov. 14 at the 50 Penn Place complex in Oklahoma City. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — Amid mass layoffs of educators, the superintendent of Epic Charter School has resigned. The virtual charter school announced Monday that Bart Banfield has stepped down after six years in charge. Deputy Superintendent of Instruction Justin Hunt will lead the school in the interim while Epic's governing board searches for a permanent hire. Banfield led Epic during multiple turbulent periods while the school weathered criminal investigations, a forensic audit, a threat of closure and up-and-down enrollment. 'Bart Banfield's leadership has helped shape our school and strengthen its mission to provide an exceptional, personalized education for students across Oklahoma,' Ginger Casper, president of Epic's school board, said. 'We are grateful for his contributions and wish him continued success in his future endeavors.' During Banfield's tenure, Epic rapidly grew into the largest school district in Oklahoma in 2020 as families sought online schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Epic, now the state's third-largest district, has experienced declining enrollment ever since, which contributed to pay cuts and layoffs in October. District officials at the time said they overestimated their yearly enrollment by 4,000 students. This month, the school eliminated 357 teaching and administrative jobs in the latest round of staff cuts. It will close its in-person learning centers in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, as well. Epic's finances have been under the microscope for several years. The school's co-founders, Ben Harris and David Chaney, were charged in 2022 with embezzlement, racketeering and a litany of other financial crimes stemming from their leadership of Epic. Harris and Chaney deny allegations that they wrongfully pocketed millions of taxpayer dollars intended for Epic students. Former Epic CFO Josh Brock also was charged in the case and has agreed to testify against the co-founders in exchange for no prison time. Banfield succeeded Chaney as Epic's superintendent in 2019. He first joined Epic in 2014 as assistant superintendent of instruction. Harris and Chaney, whose company was paid to manage the school, remained intricately linked with Epic until 2021, when the school's governing board cut ties with them and their business. While facing threats of closure from the state, Epic's governing board and Banfield's administration implemented financial, organizational and transparency reforms that converted the school into a self-run entity without an outside company involved in its management. Until 2021, Harris and Chaney's company had run and profited from Epic since they founded the school in 2011. Hunt, who is now interim superintendent, experienced the transition along with Banfield. He was hired in 2017 as managing director of instruction and became deputy superintendent of instruction in 2021. 'Mr. Hunt brings with him a strong commitment to Epic's mission and a deep understanding of our community's needs,' Casper said. 'We are confident that his leadership will ensure continuity and stability as we move forward.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
3 sentenced for pandemic-related unemployment fraud, ID theft
ST. LOUIS – The last in a trio of people who committed COVID-19 pandemic-related unemployment fraud and stole dozens of identities along the way appeared in federal court on Friday to be sentenced. Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said Daryl Jones Jr., 46, pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and wire fraud. Between June 22, 2020, and July 15, 2020, Jones fraudulently obtained $84,592 in pandemic-related unemployment benefits from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on debit cards issued to him and four other people. Cheryl Johnson, Jones' girlfriend, provided some of the personal identifying information to Jones. She obtained this information by supervising the victims at various St. Louis area businesses. Those businesses were not identified in a federal statement obtained by FOX 2 News. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now On June 3, 2021, Jones submitted fake pay stubs from a phony business to obtain a $31,700 car loan. Jones and Johnson submitted counterfeit insurance cards to accept delivery of the car. The pair used James Whitiker's St. Louis County home to commit their crimes, prosecutors said. Later that month, authorities obtained a court-approved search warrant for the home. They found a notebook containing the names, Social Security numbers, and birthdates of nearly three dozen people, plus separates pieces of paper containing personal info of 18 more people. Investigators also recovered three stolen ID documents, nine Pennsylvania unemployment benefit debit cards, as well as stolen debit and credit cards. Jones was sentenced to 65 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $116,587. Johnson, 44, pleaded guilty on Feb. 20 to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and wire fraud. She was sentenced on May 22 to 55 months in federal prison and ordered to repair $116,587. Whitiker admitted knowing that Jones and Johnson were using his home to commit fraud and to using two debit cards during the conspiracy. He pleaded guilty in July 2024 to a conspiracy charge and was sentenced this past October to three years in federal prison. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Former O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do headed to prison for COVID relief bribery scheme
Andrew Do, the former Orange County supervisor who took more than $550,000 in bribes over COVID-relief money meant to buy meals for needy, elderly constituents, was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison. 'I just do not believe a sentence anything less than the maximum reflects the seriousness of the crime,' said U.S. District Judge James Selna. "Public corruption brings damage far beyond the monetary loss to the county." The judge expressed displeasure that the law allowed him to sentence Do to only five years. Do fled war-torn Vietnam with his family as a child to become an attorney and one of Southern California's most powerful Vietnamese American politicians. As part of a plea deal, Do admitted last year that he funneled more than $10 million in federal pandemic funds to a nonprofit that in turn steered money to his two daughters. The scandal was uncovered in 2023 by the news site LAist, which reported that Do approved contracts worth millions to the nonprofit, which promised to provide meals to the poor, elderly and disabled residents of Little Saigon but could show scant evidence of its effort. Do approved the contracts without disclosing that his 23-year-old daughter Rhiannon, a law student at UC Irvine, had signed documents identifying herself as the nonprofit's president or vice president. As accusations mounted, Do claimed he was the victim of slander, responding with defiant vitriol against the reporter who broke the story, Nick Gerda, and demanding his firing. When the Orange County Register called for Do's resignation, he accused the newspaper of spreading 'gross misinformation.' Late last year, however, Do agreed to resign from the Board of Supervisors and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. Federal prosecutors said the Viet America Society gave Rhiannon a job, and paid her as an employee, after her father voted in favor of the lucrative contracts. Prosecutors also said the organization steered money to Do's other daughter through an air conditioning company. 'I'm very grateful that the judge saw the case for what it is,' said Janet Nguyen, the current First District Supervisor. 'He benefitted while people suffered. He took advantage during the pandemic, when no one was watching.' She said the county is conducting an audit to better understand how Do's scheme was allowed to occur. Prosecutors accused Rhiannon Do of making a false statement on a loan application, but agreed to defer the charge, allowing her to enter a diversion agreement in exchange for her cooperation. The elder Do, a Republican, worked as a deputy public defender and a prosecutor before he won a special election in 2015 to represent Orange County's 1st Supervisorial District, which covers Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Westminster and Seal Beach. He became the second Vietnamese American ever to serve on the board, and was later elected to two four-year terms. He was known for his efforts to combat homelessness and for his sponsorship of a Tet Festival in Fountain Valley that drew thousands of people annually. At a time when Vietnamese immigrants face increased threats of eviction and deportation, the disgraced supervisor's behavior 'erodes the already precarious level of trust our community has in the government,' said Mai Nguyen Do, the research and policy manager for the Harbor Institute for Immigrant and Economic Justice, a community group. 'After he's released, it wouldn't surprise me if he goes about his life, and meanwhile so many working-class people in the community don't have the resources to pick themselves up again after they're incarcerated,' said Do, who has no relation to the former supervisor. Jodi Balma, a professor of political science at Fullerton College who has followed the Do scandal, wondered how the bribery scheme somehow passed through the checkpoints of the county bureaucracy. 'There are really good and smart though somewhat annoying procedures in place to verify all contracts with the county,' Balma said. 'Somebody had to say, 'Approve that payment' without any receipts or verification or services. And those people have not been held responsible.' Balma also wondered whether it was fair that Rhiannon Do was allowed to enter a diversion program. 'If there is no punishment for his daughter, that feels unfair to all the other law students who might not be accepted to the California Bar Association because of misconduct,' Balma said. 'This is huge misconduct for someone who wants to be a lawyer.' Andrew Do's defense attorneys asked that he be sentenced to 33 months in prison. In a court filing, they said he had been volunteering at a maritime institute that teaches sailing to underprivileged teens, adding that the head of the program had praised Do's 'unwavering ethical compass.' The defense attorneys said that Do had expressed 'shame' and 'deep sorrow' for his crimes, that his license to practice law had been suspended and that his life has been 'destroyed by his own acts.' Do had 'received no actual payment to himself—all significant funds were provided to his daughter Rhiannon Do,' the defense wrote in a court motion, claiming he had been 'willfully blinded to the violations by the desire to see benefit to his adult daughter.… He now recognizes how completely wrong he was in this catastrophic self-delusion.' The plea deal called for restitution between $550,000 and $730,500, with the sale of the family's forfeited house in Tustin credited against that figure. 'This episode of poor judgment stands out as unique in his otherwise commendable life,' the defense wrote. 'He had a catastrophic lapse of judgment when he failed to stop payments to his daughters, and because VAS was helping his family, he failed to see the red flags of these illegal acts.' Pleading for leniency, defense attorneys invoked Do's backstory as a man who rose to public service after a childhood in war-ravaged Vietnam. But prosecutors said his background only amplified his guilt, considering many of the constituents he victimized had similarly difficult pasts, and he was aware of their vulnerability. Do 'made the decision to abandon the elderly, sick, and impoverished during a national emergency so that he could personally benefit,' prosecutors wrote. 'When the County and nation were at their most vulnerable, defendant saw an opportunity to exploit the chaos for his own benefit and, in so doing, betrayed the trust of hundreds of thousands of his constituents,' prosecutors wrote. 'The scheme was far-reaching and premeditated, and defendant had no qualms about pulling others into his criminal enterprise, including his own children.' Do's crimes, the prosecutors wrote, were 'an assault on the very legitimacy of government.' Calling his conduct 'despicable' and his attempt to minimize his crimes 'absurd,' prosecutors said that of the more than $10 million he steered to the Viet America Society , much of it supposedly for meal programs for the elderly and disabled, only $1.4 million went to that purpose. Do's willingness to involve his family in his scheme pointed to his 'moral indifference,' prosecutors said, while his campaign of invective against the press aggravated his culpability. In connection with the Do case, the U.S. Attorneys office announced charges last week of bribery against the founder of the Viet America Society, and for wire fraud against a man affiliated with another Orange County relief group. The judge ordered that Do surrender himself to federal custody by Aug. 15 and recommended he be incarcerated in the federal prison in Lompoc. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
