Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced that Mark Anthony Sykes, 51, of Randallstown, Maryland, has pleaded guilty to one count of bribery of a public employee before the Honorable Robert E. Cahill of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County.
The charge arose from illegal payments Sykes made in 2020 and 2021 to the former Director of General Services for the Maryland Department of Labor, which were paid in exchange for help steering state contracts to Sykes’ company, Building Enterprises LLC. Between July 2020 and March 2021, Building Enterprises LLC received $174,903.25 from the State of Maryland for COVID-related facilities cleaning services. The company secured those contracts through a fraudulent procurement scheme that benefited Sykes. The investigation revealed that Sykes paid approximately $20,000 in bribes in order to be awarded those contracts. Sentencing is scheduled for April 29, 2025, before Judge Cahill in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County. The investigation into this matter is ongoing. In making today’s announcement, Attorney General Brown thanked his Criminal Division, specifically Division Chief Katie Dorian, Fraud and Corruption Unit Chief Alex Huggins, Chief Investigative Auditor Harry Schulz, and Assistant Attorneys General William Elman and Alyn Pearson, who prosecuted this case. Attorney General Brown also thanked State’s Attorney for Baltimore County Scott Shellenberger for assisting with this prosecution.
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