crime office may be expanding beyond the
scrutiny of awards to a Prince George’s County nonprofit group and the
University of Maryland, College Park.
More Top Picks Best Massage Guns For Seniors
Roberta Roper, a well-known advocate
for the rights of crime victims, was questioned Thursday by an
FBI agent who asked her whether she knew anything about mismanagement in the
Governor’s Office of Crime Control and
Prevention, which is overseen by Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
Creator
of the Stephanie Roper Foundation, Roper said FBI agent Robert Sheehy’s
questions were general and did not focus on any specific allegations.
Her
foundation received a $15,650 grant from the crime
office in 2000.
Roper, who also is chairwoman of the advisory
State Board of Victim Services, said she told the agent of her concerns about
inaccuracies in reports the office provided to the board about
collections of traffic fines and other court-generated money that was supposed
to go to the Maryland Victims of Crime Fund.
She said the
errors, which GOCCP officials attributed to computer coding problems, have since
been fixed.
“I couldn’t make any allegation that there was a criminal
intent,” Roper said.
Sheehy would neither confirm nor deny interviewing
Roper, and the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.
Townsend has described the investigation headed by U.S. Attorney Thomas M.
DiBiagio as “political garbage.” The probe occurs as the lieutenant governor is
entering the final months of a gubernatorial election campaign in which she is
expected to face Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who recommended DiBiagio for his
post.
Records sought in April
Federal officials issued a subpoena in
April to a nonprofit group from Prince George’s County for records of a $503,000
grant it received from the state office in March last year. Half
of that went to a program that targeted youths who had committed
crimes.
A second subpoena was issued in May to GOCCP,
requesting records related to the grant.
Another federal grand jury subpoena
issued Tuesday sought records of grants the GOCCP made to the Center for
Substance Abuse Research, a program run from the University of Maryland, College
Park.
Roper is one of the state’s best-known advocates for victims of
criminals and their survivors. Roper’s daughter Stephanie was kidnapped, raped
and murdered in 1982, prompting her mother to create a foundation that lobbies
for pro-victim legislation and provides support services.
Robert Weinhold,
GOCCP’s spokesman, said he was unaware of any FBI inquiries about victims’
services. However, he said, he is not permitted to answer questions about
whether records of such programs are covered by the subpoena his
office received in May.
Michael Sarbanes, Townsend’s deputy
chief of staff for policy, said it appears investigators are asking questions
about “a very broad, perhaps random range of issues.”
“I hope they learn that
the Victim Services board has made enormous strides to support vic- tims in the
state of Maryland,” Sarbanes added.
Abraham A. Dash, a professor and former
prosecutor who teachers criminal procedure at the University of Maryland School
of Law, said he doesn’t see anything wrong the FBI’s approach.
“There isn’t
anything necessarily wrong in their asking general questions,” he said. “It’s
sort of fishing, but that’s what a grand jury does. … Sometimes you catch a
shark.”
Dash said it would be a serious problem if prosecutors used those
powers for political purposes.
“That would be a crime in
itself,” he said, adding that chances are remote that the professionals in the
U.S. attorney’s office would go along with such an effort.
UM’s second subpoena
More Top Picks Best Label Makers For Classrooms
In another development yesterday, the University of
Maryland, College Park disclosed that it received a second subpoena from federal
investigators Thursday seeking “personnel records” relating to grants the
crime control office has made to programs at the
school.
The Sun and the Washington Post filed requests Thursday under the
Maryland Public Records Act seeking copies of the first subpoena.
In a letter
the same day, the university’s chief lawyer, Jack T. Roach, told First Assistant
U.S. Attorney Gregory Welsh that the school intends to act on the requests by
the close of business Monday – unless the U.S. attorney’s office
gives notice it intends to go to court to try to block
disclosure of the records.