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Former Sheriff's Office Employee Found Guilty Of Leaking Info About Drug Investigation

BALTIMORE, Md. (WJZ) — A former employee of the Anne Arundel County Sherrif's Office pleaded guilty on Tuesday to providing information about a drug trafficking investigation to the subject of the investigation.

Chanel Holland, 36, of Glen Burnie is charged with obstructing an official proceeding after providing information about law enforcement activity, including sealed indictments and investigative information, to the target of a drug trafficking investigation.

Holland was employed as a Human Resource Administrator in the Anne Arundel County Sheriff's Department at the time.

According to her plea agreement, as a result of an investigation into a violent drug trafficking organization, on June 8, 2018, sealed indictments were returned for 10 individuals, including Traymont "Whamp" Wiley, who was believed to be the leader of the organization.

The organization operated in Anne Arundel County and is believed to be associated with several murders there.

A wiretap intercepting a phone conversation between Wiley and another person on June 11, 2018, revealed that Wiley had been told that he was going to be arrested on drug and gang-related charges.

The call led to several other conversations that were monitored between those who were being investigated.

During the conversations, the targets read parts of the sealed indictment out loud, including names of other co-defendants named in the sealed indictment.

Wiley also read his charges, using the exact legal wording of the crimes stated in the indictment.

An attorney hired by one of the co-defendants made a motion to the court, citing the specific court case number on the sealed indictment, before said indictment, a pending arrest warrant, and search warrant were all unsealed.

The wiretap also revealed that the person who gave Wiley the information about the sealed criminal charges was a woman named "Chanel."

An audit of Maryland Judiciary Secure Case Search revealed that Holland's Secure Case Search account was the only account to search for all four names heard during the wiretap.

Secure Case Search is restricted for use only by law enforcement and other related entities. Holland's responsibilities as the Human Resource Administrator didn't include using it.

Holland's cell phone records showed that she had contacted Wiley on June 11, 2018, and surveillance video showed she had gone into the administration offices during the time Secure Case Search was accessed from her assigned computer.

The cell phone records also showed that Holland had been giving information to Wiley and other people for several months starting in April 2018.

Holland sent a picture of the sealed indictment to Wiley's phone, stating "Here's a list of all your charges." She also told Wiley about sealed warrants and what the charges were.

Holland admitted that she didn't want Wiley and his co-conspirators to get additional charges so she alerted them about the outstanding warrants and the indictment. She also admitted that she knew doing this would likely affect the federal grand jury case.

Holland faces up to 20 years in prison.

Her sentencing is scheduled for March 26, 2019.

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