Over a two-year period, a Baltimore County crew chief drove his county-assigned vehicle to the campaign offices of “a relative” during work hours, spending up to six hours a day there in violation of personnel policy, a report by County Inspector General Kelly Madigan disclosed today.

“The investigation showed the crew chief’s misconduct persisted over an extended period of time because the Global Positioning System data [in the vehicle] was not being monitored as required under county policy,” Madigan noted.

NexTraq fleet tracking data reviewed by Madigan’s office “revealed the vehicle was stopped for extended periods of time at various political campaign-related locations, a family member’s residence and other non-work-related locations.”

In addition, the vehicle was parked overnight at the crew chief’s residence (rather than a county-owned lot) for 272 of the 601 days examined, another violation of county rules.

The report does not name the person involved, but a Baltimore Brew review of personnel and work records pinpoints the employee as Robert W. Olszewski Sr., the uncle of former county executive and now U.S. Congressman Johnny Olszewski.

Before leaving for Congress in January, Johnny Olszewski did not reappoint Madigan to a second term, and last month Kathy Klausmeier, the interim county executive, caused a sensation when she told Madigan she would not be appointed to a second term.

Madigan’s report about Olszewski’s uncle was submitted to County Administrator D’Andrea Walker on Friday, May 9. On Monday, May 12, Madigan was notified by Klausmeier that her term had expired and she was now serving “in a holdover capacity.”

For months prior, Madigan said, she had let it be known, both to Olszewski and Klausmeier’s senior staff, that she wanted to be reappointed to the office, which was created in 2020 to root out waste and promote accountability and integrity in county government. She has since reapplied to the position.

Days Spent at Campaign HQ

Robert Olszewski Sr. was hired in 2016 as a utilities crew chief for the county Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability.

He was paid an $57,474 in 2023, according to county records, and was dismissed recently, according to County Administrator Walker.

He could not be reached at his Owings Mills residence today. In a brief phone interview, Madigan declined to name the crew chief, saying she was bound by confidentiality rules.

According to Madigan’s report, the employee spent over 100 hours at his family member’s campaign offices between January 2022 and December 2024  – a period coinciding with Johnny Olszewski’s re-election to a second term as county executive and his successful run last year for the 2nd District Congressional seat.

After being shown NexTraq data reflecting the vehicle’s extended stays at the campaign headquarters, the crew chief “was not able to provide explanations for those instances,” Madigan wrote, and expressed surprise “to learn that his vehicle had been left at the campaign headquarters for hours at a time.”

He did admit using the county vehicle, described in the report as a panel truck, to drive to a container yard in Baltimore where he “assemble[d] political signs for the family member’s political campaign.”

The crew chief said he met at campaign headquarters with a relative and they shared another car to distribute campaign signs on behalf of the family member. But he asserted that he never used the county’s email or phone system to conduct campaign-related matters, nor drove his assigned vehicle to a campaign event or to the family member’s house to perform campaign activities.

UPDATE: In an emailed statement to the media, Congressman Olszewski said, “I proudly created the Office of the Inspector General to reduce waste, fraud and abuse. All Baltimore County employees must be held to the same high standards, including relatives that we love and care about.”

“No work-related reason”

In an interview with Madigan, the crew chief’s supervisor said they had “cautioned the crew chief to not use a county vehicle to perform any campaign-related tasks after overhearing a conversation involving the crew chief and another employee regarding political activity.”

“After seeing the NexTraq data associated with the vehicle,” the report continues, “the supervisor was particularly concerned about the 33 instances the crew chief drove to their residence after work, and then subsequently continued to use the vehicle for personal errands later the same day.”

According to the supervisor, “the crew chief should have parked the vehicle at the satellite lot and then used their own vehicle to run errands. The supervisor was shown various locations near the crew chief’s residence where the vehicle had stopped after work hours, including the acquaintance’s residence, and the supervisor confirmed there was no work-related reason for the vehicle to be at those locations.”

There is no evidence in the report that Madigan interviewed Johnny Olszewski about his uncle’s political activities on his behalf.

In 2009, Robert Olszewski Sr. was cited in court records as “the collector” for John Zorzit, who ran illegal video poker operations in Baltimore County.

This was the fourth report in the last 18 months by Madigan regarding the misuse of county vehicles. She notes that since 2022, the county has spent about $338,000 on NexTraq, but has yet to properly utilize the system to track the use of county vehicles by employees.

At the environmental protection office, no one was actively monitoring NexTraq accounts for possible infractions.

“If such alerts were being received, [office personnel] did not identify the infractions pertaining to the vehicle,” Madigan wrote. “Or if they had, those infractions were never brought to the attention of the supervisor so they could be addressed. Thus, the crew chief was permitted to continue misusing the vehicle.”

In 2009, Robert Olszewski Sr. was cited in court records as “the collector” for John Zorzit, who ran for years illegal slot machine and video poker operations in Baltimore County and City.

According to the affidavit, undercover agents spotted him entering and leaving several locations with a red cash bag.

• The gambling story the Baltimore Sun isn’t writing about (2/9/09)

Robert Olszewski told the agents he had worked as a “route man” for Zorzit for 14 years, but prosecutors declined to pursue criminal charges.

In 2015, Zorzit and his company, Nick’s Amusements, were ordered to pay $9 million to the state comptroller for unpaid taxes, interest and a fraud penalty.

• To reach a reporter: reuttermark@yahoo.com