A homeowner reported to authorities he’s received suspicious messages that he thinks were sent to persuade him not to testify against a former District housing official.
Todd Zirkle, who is renovating a home in the 1100 block of Fifth Street Northwest, told the FBI Monday he’s been approached by two men with similar stories who he believes were sent to persuade him drop his accusations against Yaw Agipong, a former head structural engineer for the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.
Both men told Zirkle that Agipong was the son of a wealthy tribal chief in Ghana who was willing to pay to make the accusations go away.
The first man, Eutace Pollard, told Zirkle that he’d been approached by a friend of Agipong to ask Zirkle if he’d be willing to accept money to drop his accusations against Agipong.
The second man, Brian Brown, a developer, left a message on Zirkle’s voice mail saying he’s been told by a DCRA investigator that Agipong’s family had connections in the U.S. State Department who “could pull strings to make the whole thing go away.” Brown later told Zirkle that he was just passing along information, that he didn’t know anyone connected to Agipong.
Agipong refused to talk to The Examiner. Pollard and Brown did not return phone calls Tuesday.
FBI spokeswoman Debbie Wierman said she had no comment about the matter.
Zirkle was wired by FBI agents in October when he met with Agipong at a warehouse to pay him a $17,000 in cash to lift a stop-work order on the Fifth Street project.
Agipong was detained by the agents, Zirkle said. Agipong has not been arrested, according to D.C. court records.
Zirkle, his partner Vanessa Humphreys and her husband, FBI agent Kevin Humphreys, said in an affidavit they were nearly finished with a $1.2 million condo project in the 1100 block of Fifth Street Northwest in Washington in September when DCRA Chief Inspector Juan Scott slapped a stop-work order on the project. Scott didn’t file the paperwork with his agency, so he was the only official with whom the three could deal, Zirkle said.
When they asked Scott what violations they had committed, he told them to talk to their architect, Agipong, according to their affidavit. In an FBI-monitored telephone call, Agipong said that $17,000 in cash and $3,000 for the “fine” would guarantee the removal of the stop-work order and prevent any more interference from Scott. Scott could not be reached, and co-workers said he has been placed on leave.
