Category: Gov’t Waste

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St. Mary’s County officials exposed Social Security numbers for all employees of Sheriff

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As St. Mary’s Sheriff Tim Cameron is a state official, indeed a constitutional officer of the state, his staff of clerks and cops are considered county employees and the agency is required by law to be funded by the county commissioners. Therefore, compliance with the state law requiring disclosure of public information to the public could be considered to have to adhere to Executive Orders of the Governor.

Of course, had St. Mary’s County’s Finance Director, Elaine Kramer or County Attorney George Sparling felt compelled to verify the data provided in the Public Information Request, they might have spotted the illegal distribution of employee Social Security numbers to the public. An electronic distribution, as requested for fiscal year 2011, was simple and but four columns, without intricate records of sick leave, annual leave, contributions to pension and FOP dues, worker’s compensation, Medicare contributions and so on.

St. Mary’s County is not the only government entity that makes illegal dumps of social security numbers. The Internal Revenue Service, indeed the very agency caught up in the scandal over illegally auditing conservative groups, the Office of Tax Exempt Organizations, reportedly did an electronic dump of over 100,000 social security numbers in a public information request to PublicResource.org. as reported in Human Events in 2013

Biz/Money, Boating, Fraud, Gov't Waste, Remember when, Travel

EPA wants to regulate ponds, ditches and rainwater in low spots on farms; fear the bureaucrat!

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The “Waters of the U.S.” proposed rule lets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulate small ponds, ditches, rainwater flowing through low spots and isolated wet spots – the same as if they were a river or other navigable waterways.

This proposal will be a serious threat to farming and ranching, homebuilding, energy production and other land uses.

Breaking News, Cheap Shots, Election 2014, Fraud, Gov't Waste, Politics, Really stupid ideas from politicians, This Just In!, Travel

Taxpayers picked up tab for elected school board members to chow down at fancy seafood house at resort

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In Oct. 2013, members Chris Barclay, Shirley Brandman, Phil Kauffman, Justin Kim, Pat O’Neill, and Rebecca Smondrowski enjoyed a gourmet dinner with Superintendent Joshua Starr, BOE chief of staff Roland Ikheloa, and staff assistant Laura Steinberg. The meal was at Fager’s Island restaurant during the annual Maryland Association of Boards of Education (MABE) conference in Ocean City. An itemized bill obtained by ABC7 lists $15 seafood appetizers, and lavish entrees like the $42 surf and turf, $39 lobster tail and $33 sea bass. The entire dinner-for-nine cost taxpayers $509.

“These are dollars that Montgomery County teachers desperately need for supplies, textbooks and resources, and you’re buying the appetizer and the lobster,” Janis Sartucci, a leading member of the Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County, remarked.

Breaking News, Court News, Fraud, Gov't Waste, Police Beat

Mortgage fraud: Rhonda Scott and Niesha Williams will be filing their phony deals on a prison computer for next two years

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According to their plea agreements, beginning in 2008, Scott participated in several fraudulent real estate transactions that settled at M&R Title, Inc. located in Alexandria, Virginia, and at Sanford Title Services, located in Columbia, Maryland. The fraudulent transactions at each title company were part of different conspiracies. In both schemes, Scott facilitated deals between her co-conspirators, recruited individuals that could be parties to the real estate transactions, received proceeds of the fraudulent transactions through a shell company designed to hide her receipt of the funds, sent money to co-conspirators and identified mortgage transactions that the co-conspirators could use to enrich themselves.

As part of the M&R Title conspiracy, Scott, Demetrius Peete and others deceived buyers, sellers and lenders to make it appear to sellers that they were selling their property at a low price, and to buyers and lenders that the property was being sold at a higher price. The co-conspirators created paperwork for two different sales of the property at the same time. The first sale was fraudulent because it was backdated, the buyer planned to immediately flip the property in a subsequent sale and the settlement statement listed a fake loan. In the second sale, the sales price was significantly increased and the settlement statement showed a large sum being disbursed to the lender to payoff an existing lien. In fact, those funds were improperly disbursed to the co-conspirators.

Cheap Shots, Election 2014, Fraud, Gov't Waste, Murder USA, Politics, Really stupid ideas from politicians

Election 2014: stand-up guy at ATF stands up for Matt Morgan

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On the contrary, he seemed to readily understand that people will never agree on everything, but that he just wanted the opportunity to explain why he held the opinion he presented. That was a refreshing change from the career politicians we have today.

I have been a registered voter for 22 years and this was the first time a candidate had the guts to knock on my door, let alone answer my questions. It renewed my interest in the local politics and I began to research the upcoming primary. I thought the carpetbagger claim was funny, considering Mr. Morgan had lived in the district even before it was changed by redistricting. That just showed a lack of substance on the part of others to resort to labeling or name-calling.

After my research, I found I had plenty to make me question the other candidates. Maybe I would have voted for one of them instead if they had the courage to go door to door, weathering the cold and the questions.

Breaking News, Court News, Fraud, Gov't Waste, Police Beat

Doctor & Doctor Wife Accused with Bilking Patients and Insurers

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GREENBELT, Md. (WJLA) – A federal grand jury has indicted a husband and wife in Maryland for medical fraud, to the tune of $2.3 million.

Doctors Paramjit Ajrawat, 60, and his wife Sukhveen Ajrawat, 56, both of Potomac, are accused of over-billing their patients, and then collecting insurance payouts from government agencies like Medicare and Medicaid.

The couple has owned and operated the Washington Pain Management Center in Greenbelt since 1985. P. Ajrawat treated patients for physical ailments, while his wife, a board-certified psychiatrist, handled clients with mental concerns.

According to a ten-page, 16-count indictment, the Ajrawats routinely performed low cost medical procedures, but then billed insurance providers for operations that netted higher reimbursements. For instance, prosecutors have accused the Ajrawats of submitting hundreds of claims for epidurals, when in fact they’d given clients a less intensive injection using lidocaine

Breaking News, Chesapeake marine traffic, Gov't Waste, Land of Pleasant Living, Outdoor Life, Photo Gallery, Politics, Reach the Beach, Really stupid ideas from politicians, Remember when, This Just In!

Expanding sewer to South Kent Island represents a clear danger to Bay health

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It is not smart growth to add up to 658 new houses to traffic-snarled, sea-level-rise-vulnerable Kent Island. But, worse, the potential exists for all 1,600 lots, and possibly the 487 as well, to become buildable as a direct result of the Project.

Some of the owners of multiple vacant lots in the service area have announced that they will bring a court challenge against the Ordinance, the outcome of which we believe, after extensive legal research, is likely to be in favor of the challengers. The County purports to have legal advice that the challenge will likely fail, but this advice has not been shared with the public — certainly, the SGCC should review that advice. The SGCC should also revisit the determination that the nine-year-old Attorney General’s opinion can, on today’s facts and law, still be relied on to exclude the 487 lots, some of whose owners have also stated they will take legal action. 2

Breaking News, Drugs and trafficking, Fraud, Gov't Waste, Police Beat

Crooked cops: Baltimore County Police nab one of their own for theft of property, evidence, loot and drugs

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TOWSON, MD. Baltimore County Police report that Nicholas Michael Ishmael, 20, of the 7900 block of Westmoreland Avenue, 21234, was arrested yesterday at BCoPD headquarters and has been charged with 10 counts, including conspiracy to commit theft from $10,000 to $100,000; theft from $10,000 to $100,000; possession of narcotics; and possession with intent to distribute narcotics. Ishmael, a cadet, was released today from the Baltimore County Detention Center, where he had been held on $650,000 bail.

Baltimore County Police Chief James Johnson said at a press briefing this afternoon that he ordered an audit of all 182,400 pieces of evidence in the evidence room as soon as he learned that the evidence room may have been compromised. He also ordered a review of all policies and procedures pertaining to the evidence room.