Baltimore landlord gets prison sentence for bribing corrupt city official over water and tax bills, blames squatters

A federal judge sentenced a Baltimore City landlord to 13 months in prison followed by eight months in home confinement for bribing a city finance official thousands of dollars in exchange for wiping away water and tax bills. 

James Carroll Erny Jr. said he became "desperate" trying to stop what he called overbilling on water bills at his rental properties. 

He also told the judge that squatters had taken over several of his rental homes, and the city provided no help in removing them.

Inside the bribery scheme

At the Abel Wolman Municipal Building next door to Baltimore City Hall, Erny handed over thousands of dollars in cash in envelopes inside the men's bathroom, according to the statement of facts in his plea deal.

The money went to Joseph Gillespie, a longtime Baltimore City finance employee, who agreed to fix his water and tax bills.

Erny also admitted he made online payments through Zelle and Cash App as part of the bribery scheme.

In all, Erny confessed to paying roughly $25,000 in bribes between December 2019 and August 2023.

Erny had nothing to say to WJZ Investigates outside court Tuesday but plenty to tell Judge Richard Bennett at his sentencing.

He blamed squatters who took over his properties and said the city could not help him, and he became desperate to pay his bills and hold onto his investment rentals. 

"The city nearly killed me. The city has stressed me out so much as a landlord," he said to Judge Bennett. 

He told Bennett the squatters harassed police and harassed him, and he claimed he "could not get them out." 

Erny said protections enacted to prevent evictions during the covid pandemic backfired on him and told Judge Bennett, "I ended up getting stuck with so many people who mocked the system."

He said he turned to Gillespie, a "fixer" working for the city, who said he could help him erase massive water bills.

"I was desperate," Erny said. "The deal fell into my lap, and I took it."

He blamed city government, saying being a landlord in Baltimore "is like the Wild West" and argued he should not have to serve prison time.

"Being a landlord in this city is a punishment in itself," Erny said. 

Judge Bennett became frustrated, at one point telling Erny, "You're not showing contrition. You're going down the wrong path with me!"

Erny apologized for his actions and said, "If I could take them back, I would."

Judge Bennett told him, "I can't undo the chaos of the city, but the notion of no prison sentence is simply not going to happen."

The combination of prison and confinement was within the 21- to 27- month federal guidelines. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Delaney argued a prison sentence was necessary because "white collar criminals will do it until they feel they can't get away with it anymore."

Delaney argued, "Bribery is to be met with a stiff sentence so the public knows it will not be tolerated."

Several members of Erny's family wept as the judge handed down the punishment.

Costly crime 

Prosecutors wrote in a court filing before sentencing, "[The] defendant, who owned at least eight properties in Baltimore City, routinely paid bribes… including for unpaid citations, tax obligations, and water obligations."

It cost city taxpayers more than $147,000, they said. 

Erny also admitted to defrauding the federal government through COVID-era loan programs, the government said. 

The judge ordered him to pay a total of $448,445 in total, which also covers payments to the federal government.  

Erny's lawyer, Tony Garcia, told WJZ Investigates his client has been paying $1700 a month to the Small Business Administration and said, "He has sincere remorse."

Garcia told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren, "Mr. Erny took accountability for his actions. He understands that this isn't the right way to do things, and he was sentenced appropriately. Let's understand that this started because he had this exorbitant water bill that the city gave him that was way beyond what was going on, and there was no response to his cries legally to try and take care of it."

Garcia went on to say, "We are very grateful that the judge gave him some mercy, although my client does have to spend time in jail because he's got to be held accountable.

Asked if there was any lesson in this for how the city is run, Garcia said, "The lesson is you have to have an exorbitant amount of patience to be a landlord in Baltimore City."

He said during the pandemic, "Although the tenant didn't have to pay rent, the landlord still had to pay the mortgage."

Texts show how scheme unfolded

The FBI secretly accessed Erny and Gillespie's text conversations, including one in 2022 discussing the size of a bribe:

Erny told Gillespie, "As much for you and as little for them as possible?" 

Federal authorities said he later messaged, "F the city"

Erny also texted Gillespie, "Me and you today. I'm good if you are good. Inside or outside?"

Gillespie replied: "…Go to men's room. After paid, handshake, hug, done lol"

In another conversation, Erny asked Gillespie, "Will 20% get you motivated?" 

He then listed addresses of several properties he owned that had outstanding city bills.

Erny wrote, "Hit them all if slow before this city gets its [expletive] straight. PLEASE..."

According to court documents, he also told Gillespie, "I'm happy to pay u instead of corrupt politicians."

The feds said Erny ended up paying a fraction of a $30,000 water bill he owed on just one property. 

Gillespie, who was sentenced to four years in prison last year, was recorded by an undercover federal agent.

 "Going forward. I'm just your inside man. That's what I do for a lot of different people around the city," Gillespie said.

He went on to tell the agent, "Anyone with a high water bill, I'm gonna text you the address, and I'm gonna tell you what I need, and we can knock them out going forward… Any water bill that's too high, I'll get my girl to take care of that."

Erny's lawyer argued he should not be held as culpable as the corrupt city worker.

In his sentencing memorandum, Garcia wrote, "The properties carried heavy municipal obligations—water bills and property taxes among them—and by the end of the last decade, several of those obligations had grown to sums Mr. Erny believed were, at least in part, the product of billing error, and which he had pressed through legitimate channels without success. What happened next was neither legitimate nor excusable, and Mr. Erny has never pretended otherwise… ."