ANOTHER CONTRACTOR CHARGED IN CURRAN’S CONTINUING CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION AT UMBC

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that a fourth individual, Joseph Don Cheek, of Neepier Road in Baltimore, has been criminally charged in his office’s continuing corruption investigation into construction projects at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. The Criminal Information, filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court, charges Mr. Cheek, 53, with a bribery scheme in connection with his role in construction projects at UMBC.

The Criminal Information alleges that Cheek gave benefits to a UMBC Construction Manager in exchange for favorable treatment on University construction projects. The benefits included materials and labor for a new basement bathroom and heat pump at the Construction Manager’s home; it is also alleged that Cheek made contributions toward an annual golf vacation which the Construction Manager attended free of charge. In exchange for the benefits, the Construction Manager steered construction projects to Cheek’s former employers (Bell Mechanical Services and Banks Contracting Company, Inc.) during the course of the scheme.

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.