Montgomery Co. Council member repeats support for school bus camera program

...During the meeting of the council’s Education and Culture Committee, council member Craig Rice voiced his continuing support for the camera program.

Rice mentioned a recent report by the county’s inspector general that raised questions about the financial arrangement and said he’d been asked about the deal on social media.

“I don’t care if we get a single dime out of this. What I do hope is that we don’t have any children who are hit or killed as the result of somebody passing a school bus,” Rice said...

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/09/montgomery-county-council-member-repeats-support-for-school-bus-stop-arm-camera-program/?fbclid=IwAR3VJ1PdKrrjUFJSQCWWw8B-mVbGntacwue4aOjlTIF10H0WH_k4QUEkRYo

EXCLUSIVE: Board of Ed. Contract for Cameras on School Buses from Company Shut Down After FBI Arrests/Convictions #ForceMultiplierSolutions #BusPatrolAmerica #NoBid #NoRFP #SecretContract

For the first time in 3 years, the public can read the contract that was entered into by Larry Bowers, MCPS Interim Superintendent on June 30, 2016, his last day as Interim Superintendent.  The contract was never presented to the Board of Education and was never included in the Board of Education minutes.

The contract was discussed in the Montgomery County Inspector General's July 23, 2019, Report on the MCPS bus camera deal. However, the Inspector General did not make the contract public as part of his Report.

In the contract, we learn that the "deal" required that after 18 months the parties would enter into a "revenue sharing plan."  That, as we know from the Inspector General's Report did not happen. The contract is now 3 years old and still no revenue sharing plan has been established.

MCPS has redacted the numbers in the contract that show the cost of these cameras, as if that is some sort of a secret.  Those numbers have been discussed and were also part of the Inspector General's Report.

Why did the Board of Education enter into this deal without any public process? Why no Request for Proposals?  Why no bids from competitors?  Why was this one company selected without public discussion.

As we know, in June of 2017, the FBI stepped in and began arresting individuals conntected to Force Multiplier Solutions, Inc, including the man that met with MCPS and police staff to "sell" them on the program.  5 people are now in federal prison connected to the bribes, kickback, wire fraud, and tax evasion scheme associated with this company.  Yet as of today, the Board of Education has still not addressed the dissolution of this company.

The exterior bus cameras remain on MCPS school buses and 100% of the fines being paid by car owners go to a house in Louisiana.

2016 Montgomery County Boar... by Parents' Coalition of Montg... on Scribd

FBI News: Putting a Stop to Public Corruption Dallas Officials Lined Pockets with Proceeds from Stop-Arm Bus Cameras @mcps @mcpnews @mococouncilmd

Several years ago, the school transportation provider in Dallas added stop-arm cameras to their school buses to keep students safer and bring in revenue from traffic tickets.

Taxpayers ended up paying millions of dollars for the cameras—but they brought in little revenue.

The school transportation provider continued to buy the cameras because the camera company lined the pockets of multiple public officials. And as a result of an FBI and Internal Revenue Service investigation, those involved in the scheme are now serving prison sentences.

Robert Leonard Jr., CEO of the company that manufactured the cameras, paid several bribes to benefit his company, including $450,000 in multiple cash payments, trips, and other gifts to Dallas City Councilman Dwaine Caraway. In exchange, Caraway cast votes on the council in favor of the cameras.

“They needed an ordinance to ticket drivers who were caught passing the camera,” said Special Agent Erik Tighe, who investigated this case out of the FBI’s Dallas Field Office. “Caraway was instrumental in making that ordinance happen. He accepted bribes to continue the program.”

Tighe and the investigative team used a combination of human sources and financial analysis to unravel the network of bribes.

“They just kept using taxpayer funds as a piggy bank.”

Erik Tighe, special agent, FBI Dallas

Caraway pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion charges and was sentenced in April 2019 to 56 months in prison. Leonard pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges and was sentenced in May to seven years in prison.

Ultimately, the taxpayer-funded transportation provider paid the camera manufacturer $70 million for the cameras. They continued to pay even though the cameras were bringing in less revenue than they cost.

According to court documents, the program caused “significant and ultimately debilitating debt” for the transportation provider, which eventually closed due to that debt, forcing schools to find another transportation option for students.

“They just kept using taxpayer funds as a piggy bank,” Tighe said. “It had a huge impact on the community. Thousands of people were affected by this corruption.”

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/corrupt-public-official-sentenced-082919

MCPS Bus Camera Company Appears to Owe $133,818 in Overdue Taxes to Delaware

MCPS Superintendent Jack R. Smith needs to give the Board of Education and the public a status on the company that he contracted with to put stop arm cameras on the side of MCPS school buses.

According to public records, the corporation appears to no longer exist and it appears to owe overdue taxes in Delaware.  If the company no longer exists, what is happening to the fines that drivers are paying when they receive citations? 

Source:  Delaware Division of Corporations
https://icis.corp.delaware.gov/ecorp/logintax.aspx?FilingType=FranchiseTax

@mcps Bus Camera Company CEO at Center of Scandal Reported to Federal Prison. Is He Getting a Cut of the Citation Fines from @mcps?

The CEO of the company that MCPS and the Montgomery County Police used to install cameras on MCPS school buses has reported to federal prison. Robert C. Leonard was sentenced to 7 years in prison.  

Robert C. Leonard is still a patent holder of the bus camera scheme being used in MCPS.  Is he profiting from this scheme while in federal prison?

MCPS and the Police kept using this company even after the FBI moved in and began making arrests.  The employees of the company simpy picked a new name, their 4th, and MCPS kept using them without ever putting this procurement out for competitive bids.  

Yes, this company has competitors.  

Robert Leonard, the businessman at the center of the Dallas County Schools scandal has reported to federal prison.

Federal Bureau of Prisons records show Leonard is now in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution at Oakdale, Louisiana.

In May, Leonard was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in the corruption scandal that brought down DCS. He admitted paying millions of dollars of bribes to Dallas County Schools Superintendent Rick Sorrells 

[Sorrells met with MCPS and MoCo Police to sell them on the MCPS bus camera deal.] 

and Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway.

Those bribes helped Leonard’s company, Force Multiplier Solutions, maintain its business relationship with DCS.

Force Multiplier had contracts with DCS to provide school bus safety cameras on the fleet of buses which once transported more than 75,000 children to school each day. The corruption scandal nearly bankrupted the agency which was eventually shut down by the Texas legislature and Dallas County voters.

Caraway is currently serving a four and a half year sentence.  Sorrells is scheduled for sentencing next month.

Leonard’s close associate Slater Swartwood Sr. was sentenced in July to 18 months for his role as the middle man in the bribery scheme...

https://www.nbcdfw.com/investigations/Dallas-County-Schools-Scandal-Ringleader-Behind-Bars-513152481.html

Sentencing delayed for the guilty in Dallas County Schools corruption case #ForceMultiplierSolutions #BusPatrol @mcps @mococouncil

Update on prosecutions in Dallas, Texas bus camera scandal involving the company that MCPS and Montgomery County Police chose for exterior bus cameras in Montgomery County, Maryland.

~~~

December 7, 2018
Five men in the past year have pleaded guilty to federal corruption leading to the downfall of Dallas County Schools — 

Locke Lord attorney Paul Coggins, who for eight years served as the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said sentencing delays over investigating reports aren't uncommon. If nothing else, he said, they "give the government and defense more time to agree on things rather than fight over material that goes into the pre-sentencing investigative report."

...But, he said delays could be for another reason: the defendants could be offering prosecutors information about a complex, widespread case that has so far netted guilty pleas from five people. The others are former Dallas City Council member Larry Duncan, who served as board president of Dallas County Schools; Rick Sorrells, the agency's former superintendent; Robert Leonard, the CEO of the stop-arm camera company that took millions from DCS; and Swartwood, who was an associate of Leonard's.

"The government may want more time to access Mr. Caraway's agreement of cooperation and run down leads," Coggins said. "Or they may want time to complete the report. Or it could be a little bit of both."

...Right now, Caraway and Sorrells are scheduled to find out their fates on April 5. Two weeks later, it will be Larry Duncan's turn — if the schedules hold...

...Leonard, the CEO and chairman of Force Multiplier Solutions who pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges shortly before Caraway cut his deal with the feds, also had a Dec. 14 date. But for now, at least, the benefactor to many Dallas political candidates will be last to find out his time behind bars: His sentencing has been pushed back all the way to May of next year...

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:3tfx1bLEXG4J:https://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas-city-council/2018/12/07/sentencing-delayed-guilty-dallas-county-schools-corruption-case-including-dwaine-caraway+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Could MoCo Bus Fines Go to Paying Off Debt in Dallas Left by Failed Stop-Arm Camera Ticketing Scheme?

If any part of fines from stop-arm camera tickets ends up with the former CEO of Force Multiplier Solutions, Robert C. Leonard, then Montgomery County Public Schools use of this stop-arm camera system could end up with fine money connected to the litigation mentioned in the article below.

Also note this article says the FBI investigation is ongoing as of August 2018.  

******************************* 

To pay off debt left by corrupt school-bus agency Dallas County Schools, officials are suing to recover funds from conspirators who defrauded taxpayers.

...The dissolution committee also filed a civil racketeering lawsuit seeking to recoup taxpayer money that was illegally funneled to corrupt officials and others involved in the conspiracy. Under federal racketeering statutes, plaintiffs can recover triple damages.

“I’m hopeful that we will get some money back,” said Alan King, chief executive officer of the dissolution committee. “The amount of money that they’ve lost is just staggering.”

“It was a conspiracy of a number of defendants and individuals that involved bribes, kickbacks, real estate fees and commissions paid,” added Stephanie Curtis, an attorney for the DCS dissolution committee.

The lawsuit’s targets include former DCS Superintendent Rick Sorrells, former DCS President Larry Duncan, and current Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway, along with Louisiana-based school bus camera company Force Multiplier Solutions and its CEO Robert Leonard. A failed stop-arm camera ticketing scheme hatched by Leonard and then-Superintendent Sorrells back in 2010 precipitated the agency’s financial collapse.

Leonard’s associate Slater Swartwood, Sr. is also named in the suit. He was the first to be indicted on criminal charges in the DCS case, late last year. He pleaded guilty to federal money laundering conspiracy charges and gave federal prosecutors details of the multi-year conspiracy. Swartwood was the middle man who helped funnel millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks from Leonard and Force Multiplier to Sorrells “in return for further agreements and camera-equipment orders.”

Sorrells repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, but once Swartwood confessed, Sorrells admitted he abused his position to swindle taxpayers out of millions of dollars. As superintendent, Sorrells awarded $70 million in contracts to Force Multiplier in exchange for $3 million in bribes and kickbacks. He used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle that featured luxury vacations, expensive sports cars, and fancy jewelry. Sorrells pleaded guiltyin April to wire fraud and is set to be sentenced soon. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

Duncan, who was president of the DCS board when then-Superintendent Sorrells and Leonard launched the stop-arm camera scheme, also denied wrongdoing. From 2012 to 2016, Duncan received nearly $250,000 in campaign contributions from Leonard and others connected with Force Multiplier that coincided with DCS board approvals of agreements with the company. Duncan claims the donations were legitimate, but it’s unclear why Louisiana residents would contribute to the campaign of a Dallas bureaucrat running unopposed. Duncan later gave some of that money to campaigns of other DCS board candidates, including Omar Narvaez, who’s now a Dallas City Council member...

Councilmember Craig Rice Thinks New Bus Camera Co. is Not Connected to CEO who Plead Guilty to Bribery and Conspiracy

Part 2  (See Part 1 at this link)

On September 25, 2018, the Montgomery County Council held a public hearing on the appropriation of bus camera citation fine money from MCPS to BusPatrol.

One member of the public spoke to this appropriation and expressed concerns about the contract, the lack of bids and the criminal money laundering convictions connected to the company that MCPS hired to install cameras on school buses.  The company MCPS and the Montgomery County Police contracted with was called Force Multiplier.

When Force Multiplier shut down after the CEO Robert C. Leonard was arrested, the directors and officers reformed the company as BusPatrol.  BusPatrol sold the same patented product that had been sold by Force Multiplier.

When Force Multiplier shut down, MCPS' Superintendent Jack R. Smith simply continued the contract with the same people, minus the CEO who was arrested, and did not bring the new contract to the Board of Education for approval.  Superintendent Smith did not notify the Board of Education that Force Multiplier had been shut down by an FBI investigation.  Instead, Superintendent Smith simply inserted the name BusPatrol as if it was just a name change.

In response to the public comment about MCPS dealing with a company that had been shut down after an FBI investigation, Councilmember Craig Rice said, "...other remaining members of the company were found to be of no wrongdoing and that's the reason they started their own company.  Certainly you can understand a business who has someone who is corrupt does not reflect on all of the employees of that corporation."  

What Councilmember Rice failed to mention is that the "new" bus camera company was actually the 4th name change for the same group and the "new" company is still using the same product owned by the CEO who was arrested and plead guilty to bribery and conspiracy. 

When Force Multiplier was shut down after the CEO Robert Leonard was arrested and plead guilty to bribery and conspiracy, remaining officers formed a new company using the same products.  The new company was called BusPatrol and according to their statements, they purchased the assets of Force Multiplier.

The underlying product being sold by BusPatrol is based on a Patent that is registered to the CEO of the former company who was arrested.  See the chart above.

That means that it is possible that the person that was arrested and plead guilty to bribery and conspiracy charges could still be profiting from the sales of the patented bus camera system in use by MCPS.   

But no elected officials or County administrators are going to investigate this no bid contract and no County Inspector General is going to examine this bus camera scheme that costs taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in police, school system, and court personnel yet yields zero revenue to the County. 

Today in Annapolis. What happened to $6.4 Million of Bus Camera Fine Money? @mcps @mocoboe

Maryland General Assembly on Wednesday February 6th, 2019 at 1 pm

in the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee. 

Senate Bill 92, The Accountability in Education Act of 2019

February 6, 2019

Statement in SUPPORT from Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD

The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland is speaking in support of Senate Bill 92 today because time and time again we see public education used as a profit center for companies that do not add any value or dollars to public school classrooms.

Today, we bring to you the example of the no RFP, no bid, no public discussion contract that has been established between Montgomery County Public Schools and a company called Force Multiplier. This deal was executed with out any public procurement process and now the public is left asking, “Where does all the money go?”

The contract allegedly requires Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) to pay $18 million for cameras to be installed and operated on MCPS school buses. MCPS is to turn 100% of the fine revenue over to the bus camera company until the $18 million number is reached.

NO revenue is received by either MCPS or the Police Department until the $18 million is paid off. Yet, both organizations must employ staff to handle these transactions.

The original contract for bus cameras was with a company called Force Multiplier, but they shut down when their CEO was arrested by the FBI in a massive bus camera scandal that rocked the city of Dallas, Texas. The company reformed as BusPatrol and the MCPS Superintendent simply inserted the name of BusPatrol for Force Multiplier and continued the contract without a public discussion or Board of Education vote.

Bus camera citations for passing a stopped school bus cost drivers $250 each.

The Montgomery County Police state that 34,436 citations have been issued as of FY18. That number of citations would yield approximately $7,976,550 million in revenue. 

However, when the citation fine revenue is tracked through MCPS for the same time period in FY18 only $1,553,230 is found.

That leaves $6.4 million in fine revenue unaccounted for. Where is the missing fine revenue?

To understand how many people and organizations handle fine revenue, please see the attached [below] flow chart.

This is exactly the type of public school procurement issue that is ripe for investigation by an Inspector General. Please support this legislation.

Part 2:  Councilmember Craig Rice Thinks New Bus Camera Co. is Not Connected to CEO who Plead Guilty to Bribery and Conspiracy