MARYLAND NEWS

A 43-year-old Glen Burnie, Maryland, man was arrested and charged in a federal indictment for stealing approximately 240 government cell phones, valued at over $150,000, from the U.S. House of Representatives. As a system administrator, he was authorized to order cell phones for Committee staff members. He allegedly used his position in 2023 to cause 240 new government cell phones to be shipped directly to his home in Maryland.

As part of the scheme, he allegedly directed an employee at a pawn shop  to sell the phones only “in parts” to bypass the House’s mobile device management software, which enables the House to remotely secure and monitor its phones. The scheme was first discovered when one of the stolen phones was sold whole on eBay to an uninvolved purchaser. When the purchaser first booted up the phone, the phone displayed a phone number for the House of Representatives Technology Service Desk. The purchaser called that number, and House employees soon discovered that several phones were unaccounted for. Source: CBSnews.com and US Attorney, District of Columbia

Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming has spent decades investigating fraud, misconduct and abuse of public trust — work that has taken her from private-sector auditing to high-profile public corruption cases in Maryland and beyond. Source: Baltimore Sun via Yahoo.com

With Maryland staring down a projected $1.4B budget deficit, scrutiny is intensifying over how effectively the state protects taxpayer dollars from fraud and abuse. Source: Baltimore Sun

A Parkville mother and daughter who stole $3.6 million from Medicaid through fake patient records, forged signatures and stolen identities have been sentenced in a sweeping fraud case that prosecutors say targeted some of Maryland's most vulnerable residents.

Between November 2019 and September 2024, the mother operated two behavioral health companies, Guiding Lives Inc. and Another Chance Supportive Services LLC (ACSS), that submitted fraudulent claims for Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program services. The mother recruited her daughter to manage and conduct billing for Guiding Lives Inc. Source: Baltimore Sun via YahooNews  and Maryland AG.

“There was an error in the calculation,” the Department of General Services tells (Baltimore City Council President Zeke) Cohen, that resulted in a 340% price increase that city agencies and the mayor’s and comptroller’s office did not catch.”

Still unanswered is why the half dozen city agencies and offices responsible for reviewing contracts and spending authorizations before they appear before the Board of Estimates did not spot the outsized increase or query DGS about the lack of documentation in the contract file. Source: Baltimore Brew

​The AG along with 34 other attorneys general, has reached a settlement with automobile manufacturers Hyundai and Kia over their sale of millions of vehicles nationwide that lacked industry-standard, anti-theft technology. This failure resulted in an epidemic of car thefts and joy riding across the country that continues to threaten public safety. As a result of the settlement, Hyundai and Kia will offer free hardware fix for all affected vehicles that will thwart further thefts and protect public safety. Source: Maryland Attorney General 

Maryland's Attorney General announced on Monday that his office is leading a coalition of 22 state law enforcement agencies that joined a lawsuit previously filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Uber Technologies, LLC, and Uber USA, LLC, who are the operators of the popular rideshare and delivery company.

 The lawsuit alleges that Uber used a variety of deceptive and unfair practices while offering and selling Uber One subscription services, which the company promoted as saving money on rides and deliveries.

According to the lawsuit, Uber improperly used negative option marketing tactics when it offered free trial subscriptions, which is a practice that automatically charges customers if they do not cancel a free trial. Source: Foxbaltimore.com and Maryland AG 

 A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging Rodney “Bitcoin Rodney,” Burton, 56, of Miami, Florida, and Prince George’s County, Maryland, for his role as an alleged promoter of a $1.8 billion fraud scheme. Burton is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud, seven counts of money laundering, and one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

Amit Ahuja, 41, of Westminster, Maryland, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in connection with a technical support scheme. Through the scheme, co-conspirators misled victims to believe that their computers were compromised so they needed to pay for computer repair services or software. Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

A judge sentenced Minh Phuong Ngoc Vong, 41, of Bowie, to 15 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release — including six months of home confinement — for his role in a wire fraud scheme. The scheme involved foreign IT workers in China, posing as U.S. citizens, obtaining remote IT positions at more than a dozen U.S. companies.Source US Attorney, District of Maryland