Sales Rep Details Commission Split

Hornsby's Girlfriend Made Deal, She Says

A former sales representative at an educational technology company testified at Andre J. Hornsby's public corruption trial yesterday that she split a $40,000 commission with a co-worker who was Hornsby's girlfriend when he was chief of the Prince George's County school system.

Debora T. Adam said that although she was exclusively responsible for sales in the county, she did not arrange for the school system to purchase nearly $1 million in educational products from her employer, LeapFrog SchoolHouse. She said the co-worker, Sienna Owens, arranged the deal and then told her about it at a restaurant in Landover.

"You didn't put that deal together?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Pauze asked Adam.

"No," she replied, testifying at U.S. District Court in Greenbelt under a grant of immunity.

Adam said Owens presented her with a document outlining the commission sharing and requiring that neither party discuss the arrangement at any time "subject to legal action."

Hornsby, 54, is accused of arranging for the LeapFrog purchase and then splitting with Owens the $20,000 commission she received. He is also accused of steering an unrelated consulting contract to a longtime business associate and asking for kickbacks of $145,000 in return.

Owens, who was living with Hornsby when the LeapFrog purchase took place, has pleaded guilty to a tax violation and is expected to testify at the trial as a government witness.

In her testimony, Adam said she put together a proposal in June 2004 for county schools to purchase $136,000 of products from LeapFrog. Adam said that she met a county school official for lunch at Jasper's and that Owens arrived as the official left.

Owens, a sales representative in Virginia, handed her a document titled "Commission Share Agreement," Adam testified. The document said Adam agreed to pay Owens $20,964 within seven days of receiving a commission of more then $41,000 on a sale worth more than $900,000, Adam testified. Adam said she sent Owen a cashier's check late that month for $20,000.

Adam said that she believed the document was legally binding and that if she discussed the commission split, "I could be in trouble with the law."

Owens kept the signed copy of the document and gave her an unsigned copy, Adam testified. In the copy Owens gave her, the language stating that the money was to be paid "To Sienna Owens" was absent, Adam testified.

Owens told her to destroy the document, but she kept it, Adam said.

In October 2004, a Baltimore Sun reporter called and asked her whether she had worked on the large LeapFrog purchase, Adam testified. Adam testified that she misled the reporter, concealing her role in the deal.

When FBI agents later visited her at home, she again did not disclose the commission-sharing arrangement, Adam testified.

She said she was fired after disclosing the arrangement to LeapFrog.

Although she was composed for much of her testimony, Adam wept softly and dabbed at her eyes when Pauze asked her whether she was testifying under an agreement with the U.S. Attorney's office. She replied that, under the agreement, her testimony would not be used against her provided she is truthful.

Hornsby's attorney is expected to cross-examine her when the trial resumes next week.