An educational technology expert who had long worked for former Prince George's County schools chief Andre J. Hornsby accused the prominent educator of accepting kickbacks from contractors and then destroying the evidence years before he arrived in Maryland, according to court papers unsealed yesterday.
In a meeting secretly recorded by the FBI, the unnamed witness, who worked with Hornsby in Texas, New York and finally in Maryland, provided federal agents the chance to tape a jittery Hornsby two years ago at Bowie hotel, court papers say.
"Hornsby arrived in the hotel room and immediately began to discuss his belief that he was being followed," Baltimore FBI Special Agent John M. Sheridan wrote in the April 2005 search warrant application made public yesterday.
"Hornsby stated that he had engaged in some turns to ensure that he could determine who was following him and remarked that he had made a mental note of the make, model and color of cars in the parking lot."
He had been right, according to the FBI, whose agents acknowledged they tailed the former schools chief.
The new investigative details come four months after a grand jury leveled a 16-count indictment against Hornsby, alleging mail and wire fraud, evidence-tampering, witness-tampering and obstruction of justice.
Accused by federal prosecutors of illegally steering contracts to two companies from which he received secret payments, he has pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. No trial date has been set.
His attorney Robert C. Bonsib declined to answer questions, saying, "We're not going to get into a blow-by-blow discussion when the government unseals a document that is a rehash of their allegations. That's what we have a courtroom for."
In addition to the cooperating witness, federal prosecutors preparing for Hornsby's trial also have the assistance of Hornsby's former girlfriend.
They accused Hornsby of illegally steering contracts to two educational companies, including LeapFrog SchoolHouse.
Last month, Sienna Owens, Hornsby's former girlfriend who worked for LeapFrog, pleaded guilty to a tax-evasion charge, admitting she split a $20,000 share of her LeapFrog sales commission with Hornsby.
The affidavit unsealed yesterday authorized a search of Prince George's County computers. In its 28 pages, the document also retraces the steps of investigators in great detail as they put their case against Hornsby together with the help of one of his close associates.
