LEONARDTOWN, Md. (Aug. 10, 2016)—A grand jury returned an indictment charging a former St. Mary's Co. government employee with six counts of reckless endangerment. In March of 2016, the Sheriff's Office, in partnership with the Department of Land Use and Growth Management (LUGM), initiated a criminal investigation involving a former LUGM employee who allegedly completed numerous building, plumbing, gas, and electrical inspections without the proper certifications, in violation of the International Residential Code, International Building Code, and the Annotated Code of Maryland. The man was identified as Brian Richley Taylor, 40, of Clements.
Police say Taylor was employed as the code coordinator within the LUGM department from 2009 through March of 2016. As the code coordinator, Taylor directly supervised and managed the County's process for issuing
certificates of occupancy after all necessary inspections and certifications were met for each building permit which includes: building, electric, plumbing, and gas inspections. Such inspections are beyond the official scope of Taylor's official duties and require certifications that he did not, nor has ever, possessed as the code coordinator or in any other professional capacity.
Detectives determined that Taylor, on his own accord and without the approval or knowledge of his superiors performed, or at minimum, certified inspections for several premises within St. Mary's Co., to include residential and commercial structures. In St. Mary's Co., inspections related to building, electric, gas, and plumbing are performed by businesses operating in the private sector that employs individuals who are certified to perform such inspections.
According to police, an extensive audit and inspection of LUGM records
revealed that more than fifty permit numbers were identified as having
illegal inspections completed by Taylor. After reviewing those files, six
permit numbers were identified as having inspections for building, gas,
plumbing, and electric completed by Taylor within the past year. As the
result of Taylor's actions, several dwellings in St. Mary's Co. were not adequately inspected during multiple phases of construction, thereby endangering the life and safety of the occupants who inhabited the structures with the presumption the dwelling was inspected by a certified, licensed building inspector, master electrician, and master plumber.
The state's attorney presented the facts of the case to the Grand Jury for St. Mary's County and an indictment was returned on Wednesday, Aug. 3. A
writ of summons was issued on Friday, Aug. 5.
The investigation was conducted by the Vice Narcotics Division of the sheriff's office. The investigating officer was Shawn Moses.