MARYLAND NEWS

Maryland State Prosecutor Charlton T. Howard III announced today a former legislative aide in the Maryland State Senate has pleaded guilty to felony theft scheme, for stealing funds allocated for legislative scholarships. According to a Statement of Facts, the former aide worked for a Maryland State Senator when she allocated scholarship funds to herself without that Senator’s authorization. She continued to access the Senator’s email address, “secretly and without permission” after she no longer worked in the Senator’s Office to ensure she continued to receive the scholarship funds. Source: Maryland State Prosecutor

A former president of a union representing National Institutes of Health employees has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland on wire fraud and money laundering charges. The indictment handed down last week accuses , a former NIH contract analyst who was president of an American Federation of Government Employees chapter, of defrauding the union local of hundreds of thousands of dollars through an “unauthorized” consulting agreement. Source: Baltimore Sun via MSN.com

The Attorney General announced the sentencing of a 47-year old Randallstown woman and a 49-year old Baltimore woman relating to the financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult while the victim lived at an assisted living facility in Baltimore City. The 47 year old woman owned the facility and the Baltimore woman was a caretaker there.

From August 2022 to May 2023, the two women used the bank account of a vulnerable adult who lived at their assisted living facility as if it were their own. When the vulnerable adult confronted them, the two defendants said the victim was delusional and aggressive. This allegation led to the victim being hospitalized and later relocated to a different facility. The two defendants were sentenced in March 2025. Source: Maryland Attorney General

Google is suing a Maryland man and others for allegedly abusing the tech company's services to create fake online listings for phony businesses, bolstering said businesses with sham views from nonexistent people and selling the data of consumers who were lured in by the listings to third parties. Source: USA TODAY and the complaint obtained by USA TODAY.

The Attorney General announced that the Grand Jury for Baltimore County has handed down a third indictment charging Michaela 68-year old Parkville, Maryland,  man with theft of property valued at $100,000 or more. This is the third time since September 2024 that the man has been indicted in connection with his former business as an insurance agent and purported financial advisor. Source Maryland AG

Settlement Resolves Allegations of Medicaid Fraud.

The Attorney General announced that the company agreed to pay $143,336.00 to resolve allegations that it violated the Maryland False Health Claims Act by submitting or causing claims to be submitted to the Medicaid Program for vision services that were not provided. Source: Maryland AG

The 38-year old former candidate used the fraudulently obtained funds for cosmetic surgery, extensive renovations to her home and the home of a family member, funding new business adventures—including a used car dealership that never opened—and a cryptocurrency she had created. Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

The Maryland Attorney General announced that a 44-year old Parkville, Maryland, woman pleaded guilty to two counts of defrauding the Maryland Medicaid program of more than $3.6 million by billing for mental health services

for Medicaid recipients that were never provided. Source: Maryland AG. 

The organization alleges its former CEO spent thousands of dollars on trips to Florida and other personal expenses. Source: bizjournals.com

Maryland’s Joint Enforcement Task Force on Workplace Fraud (JETF) has released a new annual report, revealing the magnitude of worker misclassification in Maryland. Misclassified workers lose out on critical workplace protections,

including access to unemployment benefits, workers’ compensation, health insurance coverage,minimum wage, and overtime pay, and workplace fraud also causes significant harm to employers and the state.

Collectively, in 2024, Task Force agencies discovered over 5,500 misclassified workers through their enforcement actions. Over $36 million in unreported taxable wages were uncovered through 2024 Unemployment Insurance audits. The report dives into specific occupations to reveal the scale of the problem.

The report is available on the Maryland Department of Labor website. Workers who have questions about their status—or believe they have been misclassified—can contact the Division of Labor & Industry at  workrights@maryland.gov.  Source: Maryland Attorney General