Drug Counselor Under Contract With U.S. Probation And Pretrial Services Sentenced To 39 Months In Prison For Conspiring To Obstruct Justice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          Contact ELIZABETH MORSE

www.justice.gov/usao/md                                                                 at (410) 209-4811

Baltimore, Maryland – Chief United States District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced licensed drug counselor Jennifer Hamersky, a/k/a Jennifer Maroney and Jennifer Hurt, age 34, of Severn, Maryland, to 39 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release for obstruction of justice and conspiring to conceal alleged violations of pretrial release by one of Hamersky’s clients. 

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Stephen M. Schenning; Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; William F. Henry, Chief, U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Office, District of Maryland; and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Don A. Hibbert of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office.

According to the open plea Hamersky was a Clinical Professional Addictions Counselor, licensed by the State of Maryland’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and was contracted to provide services for United States Probation and Pretrial Service Office (“USPO”) pretrial offenders and supervised release defendants in United States District Court for the District of Maryland, including mental health and substance abuse counseling, and urinalysis testing.

Person A, who was on supervised release under the supervision of USPO, met Hamersky in September 2015, when she conducted an initial substance abuse screening as part of his pretrial release supervision. Hamersky recommended and USPO concurred, that Person A attend individual and group counseling sessions and submit to random urinalysis testing to be performed by her employer.

Hamersky served as Person A’s pretrial release substance abuse and mental health counselor from September 2015 through February 2016, and again from August 2016 through February 2017, with a break due to Person A’s incarceration. Hamersky was responsible for communicating Person A’s compliance with pretrial release conditions of counseling and urinalysis testing to USPO.

According to her open plea, during Hamersky’s initial supervision of Person A, they used oxycodone pills and smoked marijuana and on at least one occasion and Hamersky met Person A’s oxycodone dealer to pick up the oxycodone pills and deliver them to Person A. In addition, court documents show that Hamersky conspired to, and obstructed justice in an effort to conceal from USPO officers and United States Magistrate and District Court Judges, Person A’s violations of his conditions of release.  The violations include: use of narcotic drugs or other controlled substances; failure to appear for urinalysis testing; and failure to appear for counseling sessions.

Specifically, court documents show that Hamersky included false information and material omissions in Person A’s monthly treatment reports which were submitted to USPO, and that she provided false information to Person A’s attorney and USPO regarding Person A’s compliance with conditions of release.  In November of 2015, Hamersky forged the initials of the company urinalysis collector on reports in order to make it appear that Person A had participated in urinalysis testing, when in fact, he had not.  To facilitate these false submissions, Hamersky communicated with Person A. to have him sign and complete the required urinalysis testing log for submission to USPO.

Between October 2015 and through February 2016, Hamersky conspired to prevent the communication to a law enforcement officer or judge.  While Person A was incarcerated, Hamersky facilitated his obtaining narcotic drugs for his personal use, then sent a report to Person A’s attorney to be used in court, which she knew contained false representations.

On January 24, 2017, Hamersky discussed how to conceal from Person A’s USPO officer the fact that Person A had missed a urinalysis test. Hamersky then called Person A’s USPO and left a voice message, falsely indicating that Person A had not missed his urinalysis test.

Acting United States Attorney Stephen M. Schenning commended the FBI, USPO, and DEA for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Schenning thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Philip Selden and Rachel Miller Yasser, who prosecuted the case.