A former Montgomery County police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to bribery and tax evasion charges as part of “the largest corruption case ever” pursued in Maryland in terms of the value of federal government contracts involved, U.S. Attorney for Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein announced Wednesday. More than $280 million in federal contracts were awarded under corrupt circumstances, prosecutors said, leading to charges against three persons. Michael B. Holiday, a 50-year-old former police officer from Silver Spring, pleaded guilty to securing more than $130 million in federal contracts for a security company that he owned by paying off a General Services Administration contracting official, according to court documents.

Holiday gave Dessie Ruth Nelson, 65, of Oakland, Calif., more than $100,000 in bribes for her assistance in awarding three multimillion-dollar contracts to Holiday International Security, Inc., prosecutors said. The Silver Spring company is now known as USProtect, Inc.

Rosenstein also announced that Richard S. Hudec, 44, of Naples, Fla., was charged with concealing material information including four prior felony convictions to obtain federal contracts worth more than $150 million. A former officer in Holiday’s company, Hudec was also charged with tax evasion.

As of 2005, the company provided security guards to 18 federal agencies at 120 installations in 32 states and territories, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The facilities include the FBI Academy in Quantico and Air Force bases around the country.

This story continues below
Advertisement

Nelson is charged with bribery and tax evasion as a result of the scheme, Rosenstein announced at news conference in Greenbelt.

“These decisions that government employees make need to be based on who provides the best services for the government at the lowest price,” Rosenstein said, “not on who provides the best bribe for a government employee at the highest price.”

Rosenstein said there are “no allegations here that suggests the work isn’t being performed,” he said.

“Each agency would have to determine what implications if any this will have” on the contracts, prosecutors said.

Holiday will be sentenced on Jan. 23. Court appearances for Nelson and Hudec haven’t been scheduled.

dfowler@dcexaminer.com

dc examiNation and poll: What do you think about a former Montgomery County police officer pleading gulity in a massive bribery and tax evasion case?