Federal prosecutors announced Tuesday that former Maryland Delegate and Prince George’s County Councilman William Alberto Campos-Escobar has pleaded guilty to federal charges for taking bribes. In a statement, prosecutors said Campos, 42, entered his plea on January 5, and it was unsealed today.
Campos is from Hyattsville and was elected to the Prince George’s County Council in 2004 representing District 2. He served on the council until 2014, when he was elected as a delegate to the Maryland General Assembly. He resigned on September 10, 2015.
While Campos served as County Councilman, Prince George’s County allowed each council member to award $100,000 in grant funds to non-profit service organizations of their choice.
His plea agreement says Campos “conspired to solicit and accept bribes in exchange for favorable official actions.”
Campos will be required to forfeit and pay restitution of at least $340,000. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for the conspiracy, and a maximum of 10 years in prison for bribery. His sentencing is scheduled for April 10, 2017.
Rosenstein confirmed Tuesday that the FBI took their bribery investigation public after David Son, the director of the Prince George’s County Liquor Board, began tipping off targets of the probe. The FBI had Son under wiretap surveillance for as long as two and a half years. He is now under 24-hour home detention after appearing in federal court in Greenbelt on Monday.
Rosenstein said during the course of that investigation, they learned Campos was using the $100,000 in grant funds in order to enrich himself.
“Prince George’s County allows each county council member to have at full discretion over how up to a $100,000 in funding is distributed to charitable organizations,” said Rosenstein. “It was at the discretion of the county council members as to where that money would be spent and Mr. Campos’ favorite charity was himself.”
U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said the investigation into corruption in Prince George’s County is far from over as there are multiple elected officials and others currently under investigation.
Click here to read the rest of the story written by Paul Wagner over at Fox 5 DC