FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC at 410-209-4885
MARCH 9, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FORMER STATE EMPLOYEE SENTENCED FOR WITNESS TAMPERING
BALTIMORE, Maryland - United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein announce that today U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis sentenced Leroy Darnell Banks, age 54, of Cambridge, Maryland to five months home detention on electronic monitoring followed by 2 years of supervised release for tampering with a witness.
According to the statement of facts presented to the court at his guilty plea on December 9, 2005, Banks was formerly employed as a work adjustment associate at the Eastern Shore Sheltered Workshop (ESSW) in Cambridge, Maryland. During the time of his employment, the ESSW was a state-operated agency of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. ESSW provided vocational training for individuals with mental and emotional disabilities. Banks helped supervise the work of clients and patients.
In 2003, several female clients/patients at the ESSW alleged that Banks had sexually assaulted them. The Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) began investigating those allegations. On October 13, 2003 the Sheriff’s Office interviewed Banks, during which Banks intentionally provided false information. Banks falsely stated that he did not have sex with anyone at ESSW. Banks knew at that time that the investigation concerned allegations of the commission or possible commission of a federal offense and would likely trigger investigations by the EEOC and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Banks made the false statement to the Sheriff’s Office hoping that the false information would be relayed to federal representatives of the EEOC and the FBI. Banks thereby intended to delay and prevent the communication of information to federal investigators.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein also commended Assistant United States Attorney Stephen Schenning and trial attorney Kristen Clarke-Avery from the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, who prosecuted the case.
This page last modified—March 10, 2006