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.
Similar fraud cases
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.
