CONTRACTOR CHARGED IN ATTORNEY GENERAL’S CONTINUING CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION AT UMBC

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that a third individual has been criminally charged in his office’s continuing corruption investigation into construction projects at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Charged in Baltimore County Circuit Court was Dennis O. Roberts, of Garland Avenue in Nottingham, Maryland.

The Criminal Information charges Mr. Roberts, 55, with a six-year bribery scheme in connection with his role in construction projects at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). The Criminal Information alleges that Roberts gave benefits to a UMBC Construction Manager in exchange for favorable treatment on University construction projects. The benefits included home improvements, mobile phone service, golf vacations, various entertainment expenses, and cash. In exchange for the benefits, the Construction Manager steered construction projects to Roberts’ then employer, Hayes Construction Company, of Phoenix, Maryland.

A Criminal Information is merely an accusation of wrongdoing, and every individual is presumed innocent until the charges are proven by the State. The case was referred by the UMBC Police Department, and investigated by the AG’s Criminal Investigations Division, the Maryland State Police, and the University System of Maryland Internal Audit Office.

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