Employee of Metal Recycler Sentenced to Prison for Conspiracy to Bribe NSA Official

BALTIMORE—U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett, sentenced Jeffrey Mark Harmon, age 45, of Windsor Mill, Maryland, today to a year and a day in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, for conspiracy to make illicit payments to an National Security Agency (NSA) official. Judge Bennett also ordered that Harmon: serve six months of his supervised release in home detention with electronic monitoring; perform 100 hours of community service; and pay a $25,000 fine and $4,929.90 in restitution by April 30, 2011.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; George Ellard, Inspector General of the National Security Agency; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service - Mid-Atlantic Field Office.

According to Harmon’s guilty plea, on December 2, 2003, Robert Adcock, an NSA employee, was designated as the NSA contracting officer’s representative responsible for a waste removal contract, including removal of recyclable metals. Adam Berg was a corporate officer and son of the owner, and Jeffrey Mark Harmon was the president of Berg Bros Recycling, located at 1401 West Hamburg Street in Baltimore, which received, processed, and sold metal recyclables. Berg handled the finances and Harmon was responsible for finding customers for Berg Bros, individuals or companies who brought metals to Berg Bros and to whom Berg Bros paid a fee for their metals.

According to the plea, NSA stored copper communications cable, steel couplers for cable connections, discarded metal racks for large computer servers, and other equipment in five covered units built on an Army storage area at Fort Meade. When the Army told NSA that it wanted the area back, Adcock directed that the metal recyclables be taken to Berg Recycling. From March 30, 2004 to October 2004, NSA’s storage area was emptied and load after load of metal recyclables was taken to Berg Bros, where the Berg Bros scale operator recorded NSA as the customer on each ticket, yet Harmon and Adam Berg secretly diverted the payments for these loads to Adcock. To do so, Adcock asked his father to open a bank account for SRK Development, a company Adcock’s father had formed, but which was dormant in 2004. Berg Bros then opened an account on its books for SRK. The payments for all of the loads from clearing the Ft. Meade storage area were paid to SRK, either directly, or after February 2005, by having the checks made out to cash, but with SRK noted on the face of the check as the customer. Berg Bros would have an employee cash the check and return the cash to Jeff Harmon or Adam Berg. Adcock would drive to Berg Bros, typically on Friday afternoon, and pick up his cash from Harmon or Berg. Berg Bros made 39 payments to SRK for loads from NSA. In all, Berg Bros Recycling, at the direction of Harmon and Berg, made 39 payments to Adcock, totaling $104,989.04, between May 2004 and March 2006.

In April 2006, Harmon changed employment to a new metal recycling company and paid Adcock an additional $4,930.70 for loads from NSA.

According to the plea agreement, Berg Bros Recycling and Harmon’s new employer paid Adcock over $110,000 in illicit payments, which Adcock failed to report on his financial disclosure form to NSA.

Adam Wayne Berg, age 49, of Stevenson, Maryland pleaded guilty to making an illicit payment to a government official; and Robert Barry Adcock, age 44, of Parkville, Maryland pleaded guilty to conspiring to obtain payments in return for taking actions as an NSA official and to making false statements to conceal the illegal payments from the NSA. They are scheduled to be sentenced on June 1, 2011, at 10:00 a.m., and April 26, 2011, at 3:00 p.m., respectively.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the NSA Office of Inspector General, the FBI, and DCIS for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Joyce K. McDonald and Mark Crooks, who prosecuted the case.