Federally indicted Baltimore City Schools police officer promoted while under FBI investigation
Baltimore MD October 17 2023 A Project Baltimore investigation has found a Baltimore City Schools police officer received a promotion while he was knowingly under investigation by the FBI.
Officer Lawrence Smith is now facing federal charges, and the district will not explain why he was promoted despite an active investigation.
According to the general orders for Baltimore City School Police, officers are selected for promotion by the “Chief of School Police” who picks from a list of eligible candidates.
But what doesn’t make sense to many, including a former federal prosecutor, is why City Schools chose to promote Officer Smith this past April.
According to the general orders for Baltimore City School Police, officers are selected for promotion by the “Chief of School Police” who picks from a list of eligible candidates.
“Taxpayers should be upset by that kind of mismanagement,” said Harvey Eisenberg, a retired Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. “I was astonished that would occur by any publicly funded entity to act so inexcusably.”
Smith is currently facing 15 felony counts related to alleged tax evasion and fraudulently obtaining more than $215,000 in overtime.
Harvey Eisenberg used to work for the same office that indicted Smith.
“That’s a stain on the entity to which that person worked. And it’s a stain on the confidence that the public should have and its public officials,” said Eisenberg.
Smith was arrested in September, but his indictment was not a surprise.
More than a year ago, in August 2022, Project Baltimore first reported FBI agents were inside North Avenue investigating Smith for payroll irregularities.
A few months later, in January 2023, Project Baltimore cross-referenced Smith’s overtime forms with his own social media posts. There were multiple occasions where Smith claimed to be working overtime, but was apparently doing something else, like driving a boat on the Chesapeake Bay or coaching football.
Project Baltimore took those findings directly to City Schools leadership.
Yet, just three months later, in April, Smith was promoted to Corporal. Project Baltimore, through a source inside North Avenue, obtained an email announcing the promotion. The email, sent by the Chief of Police, says Smith worked in his former role “with distinction.”
Baltimore City Schools knew Lawrence Smith was being investigated by the FBI. By the time of the promotion, agents had already collected his payroll records. And high-ranking officials inside North Avenue were aware of Project Baltimore’s reporting, including videos where Smith appeared to be doing other things when his overtime forms say he was working. Yet, City Schools still gave him a promotion saying he performed with “distinction”.
Copied on the internal email, announcing Smith’s promotion, is John Davis. Who is John Davis? He’s Baltimore City’s Chief of Schools and one of CEO Dr. Sonja Santelises’ top officials. If the Chief of Schools knew Smith was promoted, it seems likely Dr. Santelises would have known, especially since Santelises and Smith know each other.
District leaders will not grant Project Baltimore an interview on this topic. So, Fox45 News went to a recent school board meeting, in part, to speak with the CEO about Smith’s promotion. While we were there, two police officers stood by as André Riley, the District’s head of communications, refused to answer Project Baltimore’s questions.
“I want to know why Lawrence Smith was given a promotion when the school system knew he was being investigated by the FBI. We had already run our stories when he was on a boat collecting overtime, in Michigan collecting overtime, and the school system still gave him a promotion. We just want an answer as to why. We think taxpayers deserve answers. You don’t?” Papst asked Riley.
“I think you can stand right here,” replied Riley, directing the Project Baltimore crew where to stand, instead of acknowledging the question.
Eisenberg told Project Baltimore, in his 40-year career, he never saw someone get promoted while under an active, and very public, FBI investigation.
“It diminishes the public confidence, in at least the city of Baltimore, or specifically the school system, since they took no action whatsoever,” Eisenberg told Project Baltimore. “In fact, they took action that actually was the reverse of what they should have done.”
It’s not just Smith’s promotion raising concerns. Smith is accused of collecting more than $200,000 in fraudulent overtime, which the district approved and paid. Who signed off on all those hours? And why didn’t it raise any red flags?
