CONTRACTOR CONVICTED OF BRIBERY IN CURRAN’S CONTINUING CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION AT UMBC

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that Dennis O. Roberts, 55, of Garland Avenue in Nottingham, Maryland, has been convicted of Bribery in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County.

Mr. Roberts pled guilty before the Honorable John G. Turnbull, II in connection with a bribery scheme involving construction projects at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). In the court proceedings, Mr. Roberts, formerly a Project Manager for Hayes Construction Company of Phoenix, Maryland, admitted that he provided benefits to a UMBC Construction Manager from 1998 to 2004, in exchange for favorable treatment in the awarding and administering of construction projects at UMBC. The benefits included substantial home improvements, mobile phone service, and annual golf vacation, golf outings, meals, and cash. In exchange for the benefits, the Construction Manager steered construction projects to Roberts’ then employer, Hayes Construction Company. During the seven years of the scheme, Hayes Construction was a regular contractor on UMBC construction projects. Sentencing is scheduled for October 24, 2006.

Roberts is the third person to be convicted in Attorney General Curran’s investigation. Joseph Shryock pled guilty to Felony Theft and Patrick Sisk pled guilty to Bribery, Felony Theft, and Conspiracy earlier this year.

The case was referred by the UMBC Police Department and the University System of Maryland Internal Audit Office, and is being investigated by the Attorney General’s Criminal Investigations Division and the Maryland State Police.