by Van Smith
Published in City Paper, Dec. 16, 2010
Yesterday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Adam Berg of Berg Brothers Recycling, along with the company and a co-conspirator, Jeffrey Mark Harmon, pleaded guilty to charges of bribing a government official, Robert Barry Adcock, in connection with recyclable metals delivered to Berg Brothers from the National Security Agency (NSA). Adcock, a civilian NSA employee responsible for waste removal, is scheduled for rearraignment on Dec. 21.
The first indication that Berg Brothers was the target of a criminal investigation was in 2009, when City Paper observed the company’s offices being raided by the Department of Defense Criminal Investigative Service agents. This summer, the indictment came down, charging Berg, the company, Harmon, and Adcock with a bribery conspiracy that deprived the NSA of full payment for the recyclable metals the agency provided the company.
The pleas are being entered not in answer to the grand jury indictment, but to superseding charges. Harmon’s plea agreement (see below) includes extensive factual background about the scheme.
Van Smith 