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Apr 18, 2006 4:13 pm US/Eastern
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Debt Collectors Charged With Fraud, Perjury
TIMONIUM (AP) ―
The owners of a Baltimore County debt collection agency were charged with several counts of fraud and perjury for allegedly lying to the courts about serving papers on defendants, a scheme known in some legal circles as sewer service.
In "literally hundreds of cases," the courts issued default judgments against civil defendants who had never been served, the Maryland Attorney General said Tuesday in a statement.
Indicted on conspiracy, perjury and subordination of perjury were Brian Fitzgerald, 70 and his son Kevin Fitzgerald, 44. The father and son are owners of Patrick Investigations, Inc., a debt collection agency in Lutherville.
The two men allegedly lied on affidavits of service, or had employees lie, about serving papers on defendants, said Kevin Enright, a spokesman for the attorney general.
Enright said the Towson District Court discovered hundreds of fraudulent affidavits of service and turned the case over to the criminal investigations division of the Attorney General's office. Maryland State Police and the U.S. Postal Inspectors aided in the investigation, Enright said.
Sewer service gets its name from the notion that process servers toss papers into the sewer instead of trying to serve them on defendants. In Maryland, it can be punishable by up to 10 years incarceration on each count.
A call by The Associated Press for comment to Patrick Investigations was not immediately returned.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)