President of Construction Company Sentenced in Attorney General’s Corruption Investigation at UMBC

BALTIMORE, MD (March 4, 2009) - Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that a ninth individual has been convicted in the continuing corruption investigation at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge John Grason Turnbull, II sentenced Michael Harper, president of G.E. Tignall & Company, Inc., to 90 days in an alternative sentencing program of home monitoring for the crime of conspiracy. Judge Turnbull suspended the remainder of Harper’s two-year sentence, ordered supervised probation for two years with the condition that he pay a $31,000 fine and not undertake or perform work as a contractor or subcontractor on any new projects for the State of Maryland during the period of probation.

The investigation by the Attorney General’s Criminal Division found that Harper, along with former UMBC Construction Services employees, George Alinsod and Andrew Reider, and a subcontractor’s employee, Joseph “Don” Cheek, conspired to steal $34,687 from UMBC by creating and submitting a fictitious invoice on the construction project at UMBC known as the Patapsco Hall HVAC renovation job. The proceeds of the scheme paid for kitchen cabinets and bathroom fixtures that Alinsod had selected for installation in his Catonsville area home.

The case was investigated by the Attorney General’s Criminal Division and the Maryland State Police with the assistance of the University System of Maryland Internal Audit Office.