State Investigates Spending by Suspended Mayor

How Town Funds Used in Question

Investigators from the Maryland State Prosecutor's office searched the home of the suspended mayor of Forest Heights yesterday, adding a criminal probe to the catalogue of palace intrigues that have roiled the tiny Prince George's County town for more than a year.

The investigation centers on spending by Mayor Myles Spires Jr., town officials familiar with the investigation said. Among the specific areas of interest, they said, are two disbursements of about $3,333 in public funds -- one to Spires and one to the nondenominational Internet church Abundant Life Ministries, of which he is bishop.

Until a few years ago in Forest Heights, a town of fewer than 1,000 homes tucked between Indian Head Highway and the District border, a single mayor governed for more than two decades. Spires was in office fewer than eight months when the Town Council suspended him Sept. 7.

The rapid collapse of his administration is particularly unsettling, officials and residents said, because he was appointed to restore integrity after Joyce Beck was driven from office by the council in January amid allegations that she knocked a former council member to the ground and slammed a door on a police officer's arm. Assault charges against Beck were dismissed.

"It's quite embarrassing," said Larry Stoner, the acting mayor.

Spires referred questions to his attorney, Timothy F. Maloney, who denied any misconduct and declined to address the specific allegations. "Mr. Spires is cooperating with the office of the state prosecutors," Maloney said. "He's confident that he's acted appropriately as mayor."

The state prosecutor, Robert A. Rohrbaugh, declined to comment on the search, saying he is prevented from discussing any aspect of any pending investigation. His office has the power to investigate ethics and election law violations, bribery and misconduct by public officials.

Though brief, Spires's tenure was turbulent: A residents group hired a private detective to dig into his background, and angry residents hurled accusations at packed town meetings. The relationship between him and the council has become so bitter and suspicious that after he was suspended, the locks were changed on the door to the mayor's office.

Several days later, when Spires returned to town hall to retrieve his computer, he tried to remove the door from its hinges, said Stoner and Town Council President Andrea McCutcheon, both of whom were present. McCutcheon said she took Spires for coffee, and Stoner removed the computer while they were out. The town later turned the computer over to the prosecutor's office.

Spires has filed a legal challenge to his suspension, McCutcheon said, alleging in part that the council improperly voted on it during a closed session. The council plans to meet tomorrow night to reaffirm the suspension in public session.

In a Sept. 7 letter to Stoner, McCutcheon detailed several instances in which she said Spires had spent town money improperly -- without, for example, seeking competitive bids or without required approvals.

The two disbursements for $3,333 were drawn from a line item in the budget, "Funding Administration," that McCutcheon said Spires created. According to budget documents, the line item is to pay "costs associated with grants acquisition and grants administration, public relations and other miscellaneous costs."

In the letter to Stoner, McCutcheon, a former police dispatcher, wrote that Spires sought the payments as an advance for mileage, meals and lodging. She said in an interview that he did not later provide any receipts. In town hall, it has been widely noted that the amount of each payment, issued in July and August, is equal to one month's portion of the total line item -- a sum that considerably exceeded the annual $2,600 stipend Spires received as mayor. The budget covered the fiscal year starting July 1.

"He got in here and really threw everyone for a loop," McCutcheon said.