BALTIMORE -- An ongoing battle over the Baltimore City Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) took a new turn on Tuesday.
The Inspector General's Office (IG) now says fraud has been uncovered related to MONSE's juvenile diversion program, known as SideStep.
MONSE piloted SideStep between January 2022 and 2024 within the City's Western District. The program has since ended.
SideStep afforded youth offenders ages 17 or younger with opportunities to avoid entering the criminal justice system.
Those accepted into the program were first-time offenders with no active warrants at the time.
Qualifying charges included misdemeanor offenses like shoplifting, larceny, drug possession, destruction of property, and/or common assault.
To implement SideStep, MONSE enlisted the services of various community-based organizations (CBO's) to help youth in the program reach their potential.
According to a newly released IG report, at least two of these organizations billed MONSE fraudulent invoices.
"The original invoices showed the actual cost was thousands less than the invoices that CBO 1 had submitted and received payment from MONSE," the report states. "Evidence supports that CBO 1 altered the original invoices and submitted the altered invoices to receive a larger payment from MONSE."
As for the second company involved, the IG was only able to validate one of several issued invoices.
"The company stated they had no records to support the other invoices," the report states. "Further, the company provided information that supports that several of the invoices submitted are fraudulent, which amount to thousands of dollars."
It's estimated MONSE paid $694,000 to these organizations; however, that number could rise because the IG is accusing the Mayor's Office of hindering their investigation by redacting hundreds of previously subpoenaed documents, for which the City's been sued over.
"The OIG reiterates that this report clearly shows why oversight and direct access to City records and emails are necessary to identify fraud and prevent liability to the City," the IG said.
Potential fraud isn't the only concern regarding SideStep.
The IG alleges the personal information of more than 700 youth participants might have been exposed via outside email.
"Youth participating in City programs should receive the maximum protection of their information and assurances that there is oversight of the services being provided to them," said the IG's Office.
Both findings have been referred to law enforcement.
Meanwhile, the IG dug deeper into the number of youth participants who actually received assistance from SideStep as intended.
Previously MONSE claimed that 48 of 51 youth referred to SideStep successfully completed the program.
The IG, however, found records for only 24 of them.
"MONSE was not monitoring or tracking diverted youth in a measurable way," the IG concluded.
In response to the allegations, MONSE sent the IG a five-page memorandum.
Regarding the fraudulent invoices, MONSE said this:
"MONSE takes evidence of fraudulent invoices, overbilling, or any other action that impacts public dollars invested in improving public safety extremely seriously. The agency is deeply concerned about the allegations raised in this report and will take every action available to recoup taxpayer funds. Unfortunately, the OIG's report provides virtually no detail about the alleged instances of overbilling that MONSE could use to review or address the concern. The report does not include the organization's name, the specific amount, the specific date, or any corresponding information, which is surprising given the OIG has referred this matter for criminal investigation. Since there is no rationale for the limited detail included in the report, it is unclear to MONSE why this information and the corresponding allegations are provided without specifics and without corresponding exhibits."
Additionally, MONSE says it's in the process of conducting an internal audit of all invoices associated with SideStep.
The audit is expected to be completed by the end of the fiscal year.
MONSE also addressed the potential youth data breach stating the following:
"Based on the extremely limited information provided in the report, MONSE believes we have found the referenced email, in which a former MONSE employee transmitted a spreadsheet containing juvenile information via email to someone who appears to be a relative. The email in question was sent in 2023 and neither included other MONSE staff, nor were other staff made aware that this individual had sent the information to an external party. While the reason the former employee sent the data is unknown at this time, MONSE has not identified any malicious use of the data or further mishandling related to this singular email. Regardless of intent, such disclosure is completely unacceptable and violates MONSE's existing data policy, as well as State law. All MONSE employees who handle sensitive data, including this former employee, are aware of the agency's standard operating procedures concerning responsible data stewardship. In short, the violation appears to be the independent actions of a single individual, rather than a reflection of MONSE's data management procedures. MONSE and the Law Department are conducting a thorough review to ensure that any relevant data-breach notification requirements are met in the future."