Former Baltimore football coach sentenced for overtime fraud scheme and tax evasion

Date: April 15, 2026

Contact: [email protected]

Baltimore, MD - A former Baltimore City School police officer and Dunbar High School football coach is heading to federal prison in connection with federal wire-fraud and tax-evasion charges.

U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher sentenced Lawrence Earl Smith, Jr. of Perry Hall, Maryland today, to one year and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for creating and executing a scheme to submit fraudulent overtime slips. Smith received overtime payments, totaling more than $200,000, for time that he never worked. He also evaded paying more than $60,000 in federal income taxes for 2017, 2019, and 2020. Judge Gallagher ordered Smith to pay $215,352 in restitution to Baltimore City Public Schools, and $61,233.40 restitution to the IRS.

Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the sentence with Special Agent in Charge Kareem Carter, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Washington D.C. Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

According to court documents, from May 2005 until August 2022, Smith was employed as a Baltimore City School police officer. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith was authorized to receive overtime pay to provide security for COVID-19 testing and food sites and he acted as a liaison with the Baltimore Police Department (BPD). He was also authorized to assist BPD in its investigations and to receive overtime pay if he received a BPD request outside of his regular hours for "emergencies" and situations that required an immediate response.

Beginning in January 2019 until August 2022, Smith claimed more than 3,330 hours of fraudulent overtime, totaling at least $200,000 in additional earnings, for hours that he never worked. In several of these instances, Smith was nowhere near the COVID-19 testing or food sites nor assisting BPD. Instead, Smith was at his Baltimore County residence, on his boat in or near the Baltimore Inner Harbor, or out of town on trips, including to Las Vegas, Florida, and the Caribbean. Smith also falsely claimed tax exempt status while failing to file state and federal income tax returns.

Additionally, Smith fraudulently caused his employer to abstain from withholding payroll taxes while his income remained unreported. Smith's employer never withheld or paid his federal income taxes, due to Smith's false Forms W-4. Since he never filed tax returns to report income, Smith evaded taxes for 2017, 2019, and 2020, causing him to owe the IRS $61,233.40.

U.S. Attorney Hayes commended IRS-CI and the FBI for their work in the investigation, along with the Maryland Office of the Inspector General for Education, for its valuable assistance. Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adeyemi Adenrele and Jared M. Beim who prosecuted the federal case.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 18 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.