A Glen Arm property owner who turned overdue city bills into a backroom discount just admitted it in federal court.
James Carroll Erny Jr., 54, pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal bribery charge for paying a Baltimore City Hall employee to erase or stall debts tied to several of his properties. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett accepted Erny’s plea and set sentencing for June 2026.
According to The Baltimore Banner, prosecutors say Erny admitted that the payoffs helped wipe out about $147,500 in outstanding city bills, with some cash allegedly changing hands in a bathroom at the Abel Wolman Municipal Building. The outlet reports Erny also agreed in his plea to pay nearly $450,000 in restitution, covering both the bribery scheme and separate allegations that he defrauded the Paycheck Protection Program.
How prosecutors say the scheme worked
A June 11, 2025, indictment from the U.S. Attorney’s Office laid out the alleged playbook. Prosecutors say that from roughly August 2021 through September 2023, Erny paid at least $10,000 to Joseph Gillespie, a former revenue collections worker in the city’s Department of Finance, who then marked obligations as paid in city systems…