The president of a Pittsburgh construction company was sentenced yesterday to six months in federal prison for bribing a Baltimore housing official with $16,000 and an all-expenses-paid golf trip to Florida.
The prison term given to Michael E. Wilson, 48, is the latest doled out to city officials and contractors in a continuing federal investigation of corruption in the Baltimore Housing Authority. Ten people have been charged in the bribery scandal.
Wilson, who used cash and gifts to win contracts -- including no-bid contracts -- apologized at his sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. His company, Classic Contractors Inc., was awarded more than $2 million in housing authority contracts between 1990 and 1993.
Charles Schwarz, Wilson's attorney, asked Judge Frederic N. Smalkin for leniency, saying his client had no previous criminal record and lived an exemplary life before the bribery.
But First Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary P. Jordan recommended a one-year prison term. The facts of the case, the prosecutor noted, showed that Wilson paid numerous bribes until the day he learned the FBI was investigating.
"If this investigation had not occurred, he would still be making the payments," Mr. Jordan said.
Wilson of Murrysville, Pa., is still president of Classic Contractors. If he returns to work there after serving his prison sentence, he will be required to wear an electronic monitoring device as part of a four-month home detention term.
fTC Between 1990 and 1993, Wilson arranged for eight payments of roughly $2,000 each to John L. Dutkevich, a city housing authority engineer who was overseeing work done by Classic Contractors at several subsidized housing developments, court papers said.
In addition to the cash bribes, "In January 1991, Dutkevich was invited to travel to the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, at Classic's expense. Wilson joined Dutkevich and others at the PGA resort for a weekend of golf," court records said.
The construction firm paid $1,031 for Dutkevich's air transportation, food, lodging and golf, the court records said.
In January 1994, Dutkevich pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and was sentenced to 18 months in prison without parole.