A former high-level Prince George’s County official has lost his second bid to overturn his conviction for trying to shake down a contractor for $250,000 in a bid-rigging scheme.
The Maryland Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of Robert Thomas, former deputy director of the Prince George’s County Office of Central Services, who told a security company he would direct a multimillion-dollar contract its way if the company was willing to “play.”
Thomas, who reportedly made more than $100,000 a year, was sentenced in 2007 to serve 30 months in prison and pay a $10,000 fine. Also convicted in the same scheme was Robert Isom, the former deputy director of the Department of Environmental Resources. Isom testified against Thomas at his trial.
Court records show Thomas and Isom approached a security company that was bidding to place a security management system in county buildings with a proposition: Pay the men $250,000 — half up front — and they would make sure the contract, plus additional work, went the company’s way.
The company, Interior Systems Inc., went to the authorities instead. The Office of the State Prosecutor began investigating, and Thomas, Isom and another man, who was later acquitted of charges, were arrested.
Thomas lost his first appeal to the Court of Special Appeals, and the Court of Appeals — the state’s highest court — unanimously affirmed the decision.
Thomas argued that because awarding contracts wasn’t part of his “official duties” he shouldn’t be convicted for soliciting a bribe for something he couldn’t do. Thomas was part of an analysis group that reviewed bids and made recommendations to his boss, who made the final award decision.
“Even if he lacked the actual authority to award the contract himself, he was intimately involved in the award process,” the court said.
Thomas’s attorney could not be reached for comment.
