A Rosedale man has pleased guilty to accepting thousands of dollars in bribes.
Daryl Christopher Wade, 50, of Rosedale, pleaded guilty on Friday to extortion charges.
Wade was a City of Baltimore employee from 1988 to 2017, most recently with the Baltimore City Department of Transportation as a Construction Project Supervisor II within the DOT’s Street Cut Unit. The DOT Street Cut Unit helps to monitor and administer fines associated with street cuts and street cut permits. According to the criminal information and the plea agreement, Wade used his official position at City of Baltimore’s Department of Transportation to claim that he could void street cut fines in return for payments.
According to the plea agreement, Wade accepted multiple cash payments, in exchange for claiming that he could erase Baltimore DOT street cut fines. Baltimore City street cut permits are required for companies who need to impede into a public street, alley, sidewalk, or other right-of-way for purposes of construction. The street cut permits are valid for 120 days before they expire, and DOT will assess a fine of $50 per day for each street cut not repaired past the expiration date.
Also according to the plea agreement, Wade and co-defendant Jerome Walter Stephens, the owner of a Baltimore construction and utilities company, either attempted to or actually extorted other business owners throughout Baltimore.
Some of the bribes allegedly totaled more than $50,000.
Wade faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Sentencing has been scheduled for August 10, 2018 at 9:30 a.m.
