BALTIMORE — Former Dunbar High School football coach, Lawrence Smith, has pled guilty to federal wire fraud and tax evasion charges.
While serving as a Baltimore City School Police Officer and Dunbar High School football coach, Smith created a scheme to submit fraudulent overtime slips.
Smith obtained more than $215,000 for time he never worked.
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Smith began working as a Baltimore City School Police Officer in 2005 and in 2016 was promoted to detective and put in charge of the School Police Overtime Unit. In this role, Smith managed the Overtime Unit and was responsible for the coordination and scheduling of School Police Officer overtime, including his own.
According to the indictment, from January 2019 through August 2022, Smith fraudulently received overtime pay for hours that he didn't work.
The coach falsely claimed he was working overtime as a School Police Officer while he was elsewhere running personal errands, coaching football or out of state on vacation.
Online records show Smith earned about $94,000 in overtime pay between October 2020 and October 2021.
The indictment also says Smith failed to file individual tax returns for 2017, 2019 and 2020 and to report his wages and other income to the IRS.
Smith faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
