Jerome Walter Stephens, Extortion Under Color of Official Right, Maryland 2018
Baltimore businessman Jerome Walter Stephens, 48, has been ordered to pay a $100,000 fine and serve six months in community confinement and six months in home detention as part of three years of probation.
On November 9, 2018, U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake handed down the sentence, which also includes 100 hours of community service, for Extortion Under Color of Official Right related to an extortion scheme.
Stephens, the owner of a Baltimore construction and utilities company, admitted to paying bribes to co-defendant Daryl Christopher Wade, 50, a former Baltimore City Department of Transportation supervisor, and to soliciting bribes from others.
Wade was sentenced to 15 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, on the same charge in November 2018.
According to the plea agreements, Wade used his official position at DOT to claim that he could void street cut fines in return for payments.
Wade accepted multiple cash payments, including from Stephens, in exchange for claiming that he could erase Baltimore DOT street cut fines. The street cut permits are required for companies who need to impede into a public street, alley, sidewalk, or other right-of-way for purposes of construction.
Stephens and Wade admitted that they either attempted to or actually did extort other business owners throughout Baltimore.
Key Facts
- State: Maryland
- Category: Public Corruption
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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