A former Baltimore City school police officer and high school football coach has been sentenced to federal prison after authorities said he collected more than $200,000 in fraudulent overtime pay and evaded federal income taxes.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher sentenced Lawrence Earl Smith Jr., 52, of Perry Hall, Maryland, to one year and one day in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, according to the Justice Department. Judge Gallagher also ordered Smith to pay $215,352 in restitution to Baltimore City Public Schools and $61,233.40 to the Internal Revenue Service.
Smith worked as a Baltimore City school police officer from May 2005 until August 2022 and served as a football coach at Dunbar High School, according to court documents.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith was authorized to receive overtime pay to provide security at testing and food distribution sites and to act as a liaison with the Baltimore Police Department. He was also permitted to claim overtime for assisting BPD with emergencies outside his regular hours.
Instead, authorities said, Smith submitted more than 3,330 hours of fraudulent overtime claims between January 2019 and August 2022, receiving at least $200,000 for time he did not work. Investigators found that during many of those claimed hours, Smith was at his Baltimore County home, on his boat near the Baltimore Inner Harbor, or traveling out of town, including trips to Las Vegas, Florida and the Caribbean.
Smith also falsely claimed tax-exempt status on his W-4 forms, causing his employer not to withhold federal payroll taxes, according to court documents. He failed to file state and federal income tax returns for 2017, 2019 and 2020, resulting in $61,233.40 owed to the IRS.
The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes for the District of Maryland, along with FBI Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul of the Baltimore Field Office and IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Kareem Carter of the Washington, D.C., Field Office.
Hayes credited the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation with leading the investigation and acknowledged the Maryland Office of the Inspector General for Education for its assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adeyemi Adenrele and Jared M. Beim prosecuted the case.
This article was constructed with the assistance of artificial intelligence and published by a member of The Washington Times' AI News Desk team. The contents of this report are based solely on The Washington Times' original reporting, wire services, and/or other sources cited within the report. For more information, please read our AI policy or contact Steve Fink, Director of Artificial Intelligence, at sfink@washingtontimes.com
The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at aispotlight@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.