Bail Bondsman Used Drugs, Helped Counselor Cover Up Probation Violations

GLEN BURNIE, MD – A Glen Burnie bail bondsman has pleaded guilty to an obstruction charge for helping a Severn counselor use drugs with her clients, federal officials say. Anthony Evans Owings Seen, 31, of Glen Burnie, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to conspiring to obstruct of justice and obstruction of justice, in connection with concealing violations by both pretrial and supervised release defendants from United States Probation and Pretrial Services and federal judges.

Seen's accomplice — licensed drug counselor Jennifer Hamersky, also known as Jennifer Maroney and Jennifer Hurt, 33, of Severn — pleaded guilty in June to federal charges of obstruction of justice and conspiring to conceal alleged violations of pretrial release for conspiring to conceal alleged violations of pretrial release by one of her clients. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 14.

According to the indictment, Hamersky provided mental health and substance abuse assessments and counseling, and urinalysis testing, for pretrial offenders and supervised release defendants under the supervision of the United States Probation and Pretrial Services Office in Maryland. Seen met Hamersky in August 2015, when she conducted his initial substance abuse diagnostic assessment for the probation office.

According to Seen’s plea agreement, at the time of the conspiracy Seen was on supervised release in an unrelated case for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana. Among the conditions for his release, Seen was not permitted to possess or use controlled substances, and could not work as a bail bondsman or in that industry.

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Prosecutors say Hamersky served as the pretrial release substance abuse and mental health counselor for an unidentified man from September 2015 through February 2016, and again from August 2016 through February 2017, with a break due while the prisoner was incarcerated. Hamersky was responsible for communicating the man's compliance with pretrial release conditions of counseling and urinalysis testing to the probation office.

Hamersky and Seen conspired to, and obstructed justice in an effort to conceal from probation officers and federal and district court judges, the man’s violations of his conditions of release, federal authorities say. The violations alleged in the indictment include: use of narcotic drugs or other controlled substances; failure to appear for urinalysis testing; and failure to appear for counseling sessions. Hamersky included false information and omitted details in the subject’s monthly treatment reports which were submitted to the probation office, and that she provided false information to the subject’s attorney and probation officials about the subject's compliance with conditions of release.

Seen and Hamersky also used cocaine, oxycodone and methylenedioxy-methamphetamine, otherwise known as MDMA, while he was on federal supervised release, officials say.

In November 2016, Seen met with an unidentified person at Seen’s bail bonds shop in Glen Burnie so that Seen could sign probation reports that said the person on probation had attended urinalysis testing and counseling sessions, which the subject had not attended. Later, Seen sent a text message to the probation person asking them to delete any text messages between the two and any texts messages between Hamersky and the person on probation.

In the following months, authorities say Seen worked with Hamersky to help the probation subject avoid a urinalysis test, check a federal court website to determine if that person was meeting with law enforcement representatives, and covered up when the probation subject missed his urinalysis test.

Seen faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for the conspiracy count and 20 years in prison for the obstruction of justice count. Seen remains detained pending sentencing, which is scheduled for Nov. 15.

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