David Bodamer, Executive Director, Content & User Engagement

May 13, 2015

1 Min Read
Five Baltimore Public Works Employees Charged by FBI

The Baltimore Sun reported on a dramatic raid that took place at a city landfill where five workers were detained and charged in U.S. District Court with taking bribes and stealing scrap metal.

According to the Sun:

Court records show employees William Charles Nemec, 55, and Tamara Oliver Washington, 54, were charged with bribery and conspiracy to solicit bribes from a program receiving federal funds for allegedly taking kickbacks and allowing commercial haulers to use the facility without paying fees.

Employees Jarrod Terrell Hazelton, Michael Theodore Bennett, and Charles Dennis Bolden were also charged with theft and conspiracy to steal from a program receiving federal funds, with agents alleging they collected and sold scrap metal from the dump while on the government clock.

...

The FBI has been monitoring Hazelton's phone since March 2013, and Bennett's since May 2013, according to court records.

"They already know we work at the landfill," Bennett said of a private salvage company, in one recorded call. "They know where it's coming from. You feel what I'm saying. They don't give a [expletive] where it's coming from, they just want it. Because they on money."

Hazleton sold at least $17,270 worth of scrap metal during work shifts from May 2013 through March 2015, according to a system that tracks all transactions made by secondhand metal dealers. In all, he made a total of $402,400 selling scrap that the FBI believes was taken from DPW's Northwest Transfer Station, according to court records.

About the Author(s)

David Bodamer

Executive Director, Content & User Engagement, Waste360

David Bodamer is Executive Director of Content & User Engagement for Waste360 and NREI. Bodamer joined Waste360 in January 2014. He has been with NREI since September 2011 and has been covering the commercial real estate sector since 1999 for Retail Traffic, Commercial Property News and Shopping Centers Today. He also previously worked for Civil Engineering magazine. His writings on real estate have also appeared in REP. and the Wall Street Journal’s online real estate news site. He has won multiple awards from the National Association of Real Estate Editors and is a past finalist for a Jesse H. Neal Award. 

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