A 47-year-old former Baltimore post office manager has been sentenced to more than 3 years in prison in a bribery scandal in which he pleaded guilty to taking nearly $600,000 by inflating invoices, prosecutors said.
Richard Lewis Wright, III, who managed the Waverly office in Baltimore, and co-defendant Kimberly Parnell, 44, the former station manager of the Pikesville branch, admitted to overbilling the postal service for landscaping and maintenance work, then splitting the extra money with providers of the services, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland.
Prosecutors said Wright and Parnell "created, approved and submitted inflated invoices" beginning in 2007 and 2010, respectively, until 2013.
In one case in July 2013, they contracted Shane Anderson, who operated Youthful Minds Lawn Care, and agreed to overcharge the postal service in exchange for some of the proceeds, prosecutors said. In another beginning in August 2010, Wright did the same with Keep U Clean cleaning service — overpaying operator Ladeena Sketers-Anderson, then having her issue checks to another cleaning company owned by Wright, which he then cashed, prosecutors said.
Wright submitted $591,791 worth of invoices in exchange for bribes, prosecutors said. Parnell, who previously pleaded guilty to submitting $50,470 in inflated invoices for bribes, was sentenced to 20 months in prison.
Anderson and Sketers-Anderson were sentenced to 15 months in prison, prosecutors said.
Wright's father, Richard Wright Jr., reached by phone at home Tuesday night, said he hadn't been in contact with him during the court proceedings and hadn't even heard he'd been sentenced. He did not know whether his son had an attorney.
"I wish it never had happened," Wright Jr. said. "I'm sorry for what happened. I feel bad."
Nevertheless, he added, "I'm behind him 100 percent. I love him."
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