Federal Contractor Employee Faces Up To 10 Years For Bribery, Not Reporting Positive Urinalysis Results
GREENBELT, MD. (WJZ) — A Maryland man was arrested Tuesday on federal charges alleging that he accepted bribes and illegal gratuities in connection with his employment with a federal contractor, in which he administered urinalysis tests to individuals on federal probation, supervised release and pre-trial supervision.
Michael Andre Brown, 47, of Waldorf, Md., was an employee at a company in Camp Springs, Md., a federally contracted business tasked with administering urinalysis tests to people on federal probation, supervised release and pre-trial supervision on behalf of the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Office of the District of Maryland.
Brown was a urinalysis technician for the company.
According to the affidavit, on December 26, 2018, an FBI undercover task force officer, posing as a federal probationer who had been ordered to submit to urine analysis as part of his/her probation, met with Brown at the company in Camp Springs.
The undercover agent indicated to Brown that he/she expected to have a positive urinalysis result. Brown allegedly told the undercover agent that he was willing to work with the UC.
According to the affidavit, Brown took the UC to a bathroom to perform the urinalysis. The UC added a substance to the urine sample that would produce a positive result for marijuana.
Brown inspected the cup and indicated to the UC that it was positive for drug use, but then said he would "take care of" the UC. The UC expressed his appreciation to Brown and put $100 on the bathroom sink. Brown took the money.
Brown then gave instructions to the UC on how to check in on his/her next date for urine analysis, but also informed the UC that his/her next date would be December 28, 2018, two days away, and said he would be working again on that day.
The affidavit alleges that on December 28, 2018, the undercover agent gave another urine sample to Brown, and instead of checking it, Brown told the UC, "Go ahead and pour it out," "Cause if it was dirty the other day, it's gonna be dirty today,"
The UC again expressed appreciation to Brown and asked if Brown "needed anything," The affidavit alleges that Brown accepted $100 from the undercover agent and indicated he would do so on future dates as well.
Brown, nor anyone from his company ever contacted the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Office to alert them that the UC had tested positive for drug use. Brown allegedly also accepted $150 from the UC on February 11, 2019, without requiring Brown to submit a urine sample at all, before causing a negative urinalysis result to be reported.
A representative of the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Offices contacted Brown's employer and was told by a rep of the company the UC had tested negative for drugs on February 11.
All meetings between the UC and Brown were audio-and-video recorded.
If convicted, Brown faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for bribery and a maximum of two years in prison for accepting an illegal gratuity.
A judge ordered Brown be released pending trial.
Follow @WJZ on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook
