Former Prince George’s School Official Hornsby Convicted On Six Counts

A federal jury in Greenbelt, Maryland on Thursday convicted former Prince George’s County Schools Superintendent Andre Hornsby on six of the 22 public corruption-related counts he faced: three counts of honest service wire fraud and one count each of evidence tampering, witness tampering and obstruction of justice. Hornsby was acquitted on one wire fraud count and one attempted witness tampering count; jurors were deadlocked on the remaining counts. An earlier trial last year ended in a hung jury.

Hornsby, who resigned in 2005 when the allegations arose after a Baltimore Sun investigation, was accused in two different schemes of illegally steering district contracts to favored parties in exchange for kickbacks. One party was the company operated by Hornsby’s now ex-girlfriend Sienna Owens, who pleaded guilty to impeding IRS laws and testified against him; she is awaiting sentencing. The other party was longtime business associate Cynthia Joffrion. The three wire fraud counts on which he was convicted all relate to Owens’ firm. Hornsby faces a statutory maximum of 90 years in prison, although guidelines will call for considerably less time. US District Judge Peter Messitte scheduled sentencing for October 20 (Baltimore Sun, WaPo).