A fourth person charged with bribery in connection to contractors working at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, has pleaded guilty, according to Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran.
Joseph Don Cheek, of Catonsville, was convicted of bribery in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County after Cheek pleaded guilty before Judge John G. Turnbull, II, Curran?s office said in an announcement.
The indictment involved contract work from 2000-04 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
According to the statement, Cheek was project manager for Bell Mechanical Services and Banks Contracting Company Inc., two contractors involved in various projects at UMBC. In the court proceedings, Cheek admitted to providing materials and labor for a new basement bathroom in the home of state employee Andrew Reider, a UMBC project manager in the Construction Services Division.
Reider also received a new heat pump at his home and contributions towards an annual golf vacation, according to the release.
Reider was charged on Wednesday with corruption for “accepting Mr. Cheek?s and others? bribes, improperly steer[ing] construction projects to Cheek?s former employer,” according to the release from Curran?s office.
“Reider engaged in a four-year scheme to steal over $137,000 from UMBC through the creation and submission of false and inflated invoices to the University,” Curran?s office stated in the release.
A spokesman forthe University of Maryland, Baltimore County could not be reached for comment.
The case is part of an ongoing joint investigation involving the Attorney General?s Office and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County police department, Maryland State Police and the University System of Maryland Internal Audit Office, according Kevin Enright, a spokesman for the Maryland Attorney General.
