A District man accused of embezzling $1.4 million from the Baltimore public housing authority said that he was an unwitting participant in a conspiracy that must have been much bigger than his alleged role.
Federal authorities said Keith Eugene Daughtry and co-conspirator William Alvin Darden electronically transferred money from a bank account belonging to the Housing Authority of Baltimore City through an electronic banking network and into an account for a fictitious contracting company, Keith Daughtry Contracting LLC.
The money was taken in a series of transactions over two months last summer, according to court documents.
Daughtry, 49, a self-styled handyman and mechanic, said he’s not capable of carrying out such an elaborate scheme.
“I don’t know anything about banks, I keep my money in a can,” Daughtry told The Washington Examiner on Monday.
Prosecutors said the Daughtry company bank account was set up by Darden, who fraudulently obtained a Maryland driver’s license using Daughtry’s personal information. Authorities emphasized in court documents that Daughtry was not a victim, and investigators included photos of Daughtry and Darden together withdrawing money from area banks.
Daughtry, 49, told The Examiner that he knows Darden from hanging out at a liquor store on South Capitol Street and Atlantic Avenue in Southeast Washington. Darden offered him work repairing the brakes on his car, building a fence at a neighborhood home and running to the Home Deport, Daughtry said.
To pay him, Darden drove him to area banks and had him sign a withdrawal slip to take out money, Daughtry said. They visited nine banks around the city over several days and took out about $6,000, he said.
“Sign here, grab the money and it was over. That’s a far cry from $1.4 million,” Daughtry said. “It’s got to be way bigger than me.”
Warden’s attorney Scott Morris said Monday that he could not comment because it was an active case.
Baltimore Housing Commissioner Paul Graziano said the bank “foiled” the embezzlement scheme by using electronic fraud detection software. The housing authority has recovered all the missing money, Graziano said.
It’s unclear how the conspirators had access to the housing authority’s account information to transfer to money. Neither suspect had ever worked for the authority or was a client of the authority, officials said.
Marcy Murphy, a U.S. attorney’s spokeswoman, said no one else has been charged in this case, but this investigation continues.
The men were charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and face up to 30 years in prison.
