For bribing Cheryl Glenn, Lance Lucas gets 18 months
Baltimore businessman paid the state lawmaker more than $40,000 to introduce bills to benefit his business and for a license to grow and sell medical marijuana
Above: Lance Lucas told Del. Cheryl Glenn that his bribes were “like patty cake compared to the shit in Baltimore City.” (Fern Shen)
Businessman Lance Lucas was sentenced today to 18 months in federal prison for paying $42,500 in bribes to former Del. Cheryl Glenn.
Lucas, 44, the founder of Digit All Systems, appeared before U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake, who also sentenced him to three years probation for wire fraud and related charges.
Partnering with businesses to help them obtain licenses to grow and distribute medical marijuana, Lucas met with Glenn in area restaurants, paying the onetime 45th District lawmaker with envelopes of cash.
Lucas also bribed Glenn to introduce legislation to ensure his Cyber Warrior Diversity Program curriculum would get government contracts.
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A glib, hard-charging advocate of technology training for Baltimore youth who staged laptops for guns and other events, Lucas nurtured a reputation as a do-gooder.
And he did provide a helping hand to young people and was personally generous to others. But there was another side.
In the sentencing memorandum, prosecutors described Lucas as assuring a “nervous” Glenn of his criminal cred, making several statements – presumably caught on tape – that he never left anything to chance.
”I’m from Baltimore for real, for real Baltimore. This is the least illegal thing I’ve ever done,” he boasted while sitting with her in his Porsche. “This is like patty cake compared to the shit in Baltimore City.”
Lucas’ guilty plea last March followed Glenn’s in January. The four-term Democratic legislator was sentenced to two years in prison for soliciting and accepting bribes.