Figure in Md. Corruption Case Allegedly Took $392,000, Liquor, TVs

The Maryland construction executive at the center of the state's largest corruption probe in many years used a series of audacious schemes to loot more than $1 million from the company he led, the firm's corporate parent alleged in court documents made public yesterday.

The court filings, supported in part by affidavits from participants in the arrangements but disputed by W. David Stoffregen's attorney, say Stoffregen improperly took $392,000 as well as $40,000 in liquor and wine, at least 15 televisions and a gazebo.

Stoffregen, who was fired as chief executive of Poole and Kent in March, enlisted the company's vendors to file false or inflated invoices, according to the filings by parent company EMCOR Group Inc. The vendors then supplied Stoffregen with items of value or retained small portions of the payments, while the balance was split between Stoffregen and a confederate, the filings say.

The documents, filed in a dispute over whether EMCOR must pay Stoffregen's legal fees, allege a raft of previously undisclosed misconduct. The schemes were not included in the public corruption and racketeering indictment returned in October against Stoffregen and former state senator Thomas L. Bromwell, a Baltimore County Democrat.

Vickie E. LeDuc, a spokeswoman for Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein, declined to comment on whether prosecutors are investigating the allegations. The filings, however, say that Stoffregen's primary confederate in the thefts was former Poole and Kent executive Michael C. Forti, who has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Bromwell and Stoffregen have pleaded not guilty to racketeering and other charges. Stoffregen's attorney, Barry Levine, called EMCOR's allegations shameful and suggested that Forti, whom he described as a "one-person crime wave," might have acted on his own and then falsely implicated Stoffregen to curry favor with prosecutors.

"I think that if it happened, it was Michael Forti corrupting his colleagues," Levine said, adding later that "the link to Stoffregen requires believing Forti that he shared the proceeds of that loot."

The documents suggest that in some cases, Forti was central to the alleged schemes.

In one case, they say he arranged a bogus auction at which Poole and Kent would purchase equipment and machinery that the company already owned. According to the filing, the auctioneer issued checks to Forti totaling $254,000, and Forti split the proceeds with Stoffregen.

The indictment announced in October alleges a six-year conspiracy ending in 2004. It accuses Bromwell of accepting concealed payments of more than $190,000, free or discounted construction services at his home and other favors.

In exchange, the indictment says, Bromwell used his influence inside and outside government to benefit Poole and Kent and Stoffregen.

In federal court in Baltimore yesterday, Judge J. Frederick Motz ruled that EMCOR is not obligated to pay Stoffregen's legal fees.

The FBI investigation of Bromwell's activities stretches back several years. Poole and Kent paid Stoffregen's legal fees until, according to EMCOR's filings, Stoffregen refused to cooperate with investigators in March.

Stoffregen filed a civil lawsuit to force EMCOR to pay Levine's $200,000 retainer. Arnold Weiner, an attorney for EMCOR, gathered and presented evidence of alleged looting to further the argument that Stoffregen is not entitled to a criminal defense paid for by a company he allegedly defrauded.

Motz did not rule on that issue, finding instead that EMCOR was not obligated to indemnify employees of Poole and Kent, which it acquired in 1999.