Maryland Man Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Bribing D.C. Public Officials

Defendant Paid More than $40,000 in Cash Bribes to Metropolitan Police Department Employees in Exchange for Personal Identifying Information of Traffic Crash Victims

           WASHINGTON – Marvin Parker, 61, of Silver Spring, Maryland, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for paying more than $40,000 in bribes to two Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) employees, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu announced.

           In July 2019, Parker pled guilty to one count of bribery of a public official in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Honorable Emmett G. Sullivan sentenced him to 18 months in prison to be followed by 18 months of supervised release. Parker was also ordered to forfeit $40,001.00, the minimum dollar value of the bribes he paid to MPD officials.

           According to Parker’s admissions made in connection with his plea, Parker was the owner and sole proprietor of RPM Associates, through which he solicited clients involved in traffic accidents to connect them with legal and medical services. Parker admitted to paying cash to two MPD employees to influence them to provide him with information about individuals who had been involved in traffic accidents in in the District. After receiving this information, Parker would contact those individuals by phone and offer to assist them with obtaining legal representation and medical services. MPD’s General Orders prohibits officers and employees from releasing Traffic Crash Reports except under limited circumstances.  D.C. Law prohibits the solicitation of traffic accident victims within 21 days of the accident when the solicitation is for financial gain and for the purpose of directing the victim to practitioners, such as attorneys or medical providers. Parker admitted that he solicited and entered into a scheme with two different MPD employees, whom he paid anywhere from $50 to $500 per week for the personal identifying information of recent traffic crash victims. During an approximately two-year span between 2015 and 2017, Parker paid more than $40,000 in cash bribes to the two employees.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of those who assisted the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office and MPD’s Internal Affairs Division.  She also acknowledged the work of those who handled the case at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including paralegal specialist Mariela Andrade and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Floyd, Kathryn Rakoczy, and Colleen Kukowski along with former Assistant U.S. Attorney David Misler, who investigated and prosecuted the case.