Prince George’s County photo of Lt. Col. Karl Granzow Jr.
STATter 911 has learned the home and office of Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department Lt. Col. Karl Granzow Jr. was searched by agents with the FBI. It was part of a series of raids conducted Saturday targeting the work places and homes of county officials, developers and others in an effort to uncover information about an investigation that appears to be centering on development and political influence in the county.
The Washington Post first reported some details about the raids on Sunday, including that a building housing fire department offices was targeted. Numerous sources familiar with the actions on Saturday tell STATter 911 the search warrant served at fire department headquarters was specifically for the fourth floor office occupied by Col. Granzow. Granzow’s Bowie home was also entered by a team of agents.
According to the sources, agents also gathered evidence from computers inside the Office of Information Technology in the same building at 9201 Basil Court in Largo. The office operates computer systems for county government.
Karl Granzow, reached by phone, referred all comments to the public information officer for the department. Chief Spokesman Mark Brady tells STATter 911 he is unable to comment on the developments. Granzow runs the department’s management services command, which includes fiscal affairs, fleet management, human resources, information technologies and occupational safety and health.
Sources familiar with the search warrants tell STATter 911 the information being gathered by agents is connected to lobbying, campaign finance and building construction projects. STATter 911 has no information to indicate criminal charges have been filed against any individuals mentioned in this story. Grand jury subpoenas have also been issued in the investigation.
According to sources, the home of developer Patrick Ricker was also searched. Ricker and Granzow have been long time associates. Granzow’s brother, Bernard, is married to Ricker’s daughter. Sources say their home was also searched.
The Post reports, and other sources confirm, a large development near the Greenbelt Metro station is part of the investigation. The project is called Greenbelt Station and is located on the old A.H. Smith Jr. property, a sand and gravel operation. The land is just inside the Capital Beltway, east of the CSX railroad tracks and north of Greenbelt Road.
Ricker and Daniel Colton have been involved in the project. According to The Post, Daniel Colton had served time in prison for bank fraud.
Sources say there had previously been concern within county government about Karl Granzow’s ownership of a small percentage of a firm connected to the development of the property. According to the sources, Granzow had properly disclosed his interest and his involvement was approved by ethics officials in the county.
One part of the development was to include a new fire station.
According to the sources, others connected to Saturday’s raids include lobbyist Michael Arrington, Office of Finance Director J. Michael Dougherty, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Government Operations/Environmental Services David Byrd and former council member Thomas Hendershot.
Hendershot was hired last December as a part-time employee of the fire department. Hendershot was initially assigned as a one-thousand hour employee to review case files for fire investigators. Sources say he was then moved to headquarters. While some in the department defend Hendershot’s hiring, others have viewed it as a political patronage job that does not require any heavy lifting.
In Monday’s paper, The Washington Post reports a lobbyist for the county council, David Jacobs, has also been mentioned in the subpoena. Jacobs is married to the chair of the Prince George’s County School Board, Verjeana Jacobs.
From the late 1990s until 2001, David Jacobs ran the Prince George’s County Office of Emergency Preparedness (OEP). At the same time, Karl Granzow was assigned by the fire department to work with Jacobs.
Jacobs was forced to leave OEP after a series of charges of driving county vehicles under the influence of alcohol. Jacobs has an extensive traffic record, including a 2007 ticket for driving on a suspended license. Jacobs has also served as the lobbyist the county firefighters union, IAFF Local 1619.
Contacted Sunday evening, James Keary, a spokesman for County Executive Jack Johnson, confirms FBI agents did not enter Johnson’s offices. Johnson, Dougherty and Byrd’s offices are all in the County Administration Building at 14741 Governor Oden Bowie Drive.
Keary stands by his statement to The Post that this is a fishing expedition. He says despite at least three attempts by the FBI, “They have not yet caught even a minnow”.
Attempts to get comments from Hendershot, Arrington, Ricker and Colton have not been successful.
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
Have you ever seen what happens when you pull that lonley, out of place string on a piece of clothing? This is getting good.
Col. Granzow, thanks for discrediting and embarassing the Fire/EMS Dept. Be a man and do us all a favor… resign.
This is a fire department official and most citizen look to the fire department for help in a time of need.
How will this affect the citizen’s views on the fire department?
How can the citizens feel safe when fire department officials are possible criminals?
Does anyone in the Prince George County government do checks on there employees?
Is the county going to allow this gentleman to continue working and serve the public?
Concerned citizen
Granzow,
First the man has been charged with nothing and is pressumed innocent. But does this really suprise anyone who has ever had any dealings with Carl?
bet if they look deep enough a lot of fire officals and county officals will go down with this investagation..
Well, seems the career side is taking a hit. There has been alot of talk about the activities of volunteers not being in good standing with the image if the FD. There was also alot of call for the removal of those persons. Do I hear anyone on the career side calling for Karl's removal?
Regardles of the outcome, LtCol. Granzo should be placed on Administrative Leave pending the outcome of this investigation. If he is not, it would appear to me that other members of upper management are looking after thier own and not the good of the fire service in P.G. County.
I also have to start questioning if he's been "greasing the wheels" of other projects of this firm he has a small ownership in.
Bottom line, this makes the entire FD look bad in the publics eye. No member of the dept. has the right to expect that of a top level manager.
be patient
Is anyone surprised? The shame is that nobody is outraged. Nobody seems to care.
This is not an example of the Fire Dept as a whole, and so no one should think any differently or feel threatened or "unsafe", nor should you feel that the fire/ems dept shoud be discredited. Yes, this is a bad situation, however NO ONE has been charged with any crimes in relation to any of this. Please do not be so quick to make assumptions and "start questioning" a situation on which we do not have all the details.
Quite a few on the career side have been asking for his ouster for a long time. We got him out of the union president position only to have his vengance cast upon us ever since. He has worked under the table for years underminding anything he could.
Look at his pawn union president, Michaelides, and what happened to the finicial status of the local then.
Let this play out and you will see many fall, as long as the FBI is really serious.
Like I said in another blog, there is only one honest person on the 4th floor now.
Not being charged with a crime?
When a Federal judge signs a organized crime, sorry political corrution warrant, you better bet they have the evidence already, they are just looking for the hammer.
I am outraged, but if it was a volunteer, there will be more talk about it. I am glad this came out. Maybe some of the Volunteer Companies can get their incentive checks, the County can stop building new firehouses just a block down from the old stations in an attempt to take over the stations, they need to dig a little deeper. I am a tax paying citizen in this County and this is what my dollars are going to, people like Granzow.
This guy is as slick as a greased pig. Several PGFD officials have been trying to nail this guy for years. Stay tuned.
GRANZO is the biggest VOLUNTEER HATER in history. He's also the one that's trying to "re-allocate" volunteer owned 508 monies of which PGFD has no say so over. MEMA delegates funds, not GRANZO. This is a long time coming, and expect it to get better when the volunteer win their lawsuit against PGFD and they pay BIG BUCKS!!!
i would like to know when the fire chief will be suspended. for not having control of one of his own. if it was a vol. he would have done that asap. or is one of those two way deals. career rules and vol rules. i see a lawsuit coming.
The way I see it is the county counsel needs to fire the Fire Chief and his top personnel (Lt. Col.’s, Majors and Aides) At this point in the game there is no way to actually know who is on the take and who isn’t. Play it safe and exterminate the top end to save the face of what’s left of the county’s name. Sedgwick has already disgraced the county fire service by allowing his personnel to act in a manor such as this. If they look close enough I bet they will find Sedgwick’s hands are in the pot.
If this was a VOLUNTEER thing, we would never see or hear the end of it on TV, the radio and the paper. Grannnzoooooo is a snake and the sorry part of this is, IF HE RETIRES, he will still get a check. If he is put on admin. leave, he will still get a check. So where is the PUNISHMENT? OOPS! Sorry, I forgot, we are dealig with a PAID PERSON! And there really is a two sided coin on the treatment dealt to a volunteer compared to a PAID PERSON if indeed you can call him a person. Is a SNAKE IN THE GRASS also a person? I think NOT. WHEN THEY TAKE HIM OUT,I WISH,PROBABLY ALONG WITH A LOT OF OTHERS, THAT I COULD BE THE ONE TO SLAP THE CUFFS ON HIM. WHAT SATISFACTION I WOULD GET. Too bad NONE of us will be invited to the "silver braclet party" but alas we can all dream. Good luck Carl, I hope they fry your butt and your pension along with it. NO PENSION! DISGRACED! That is how I spell GRANNNNNZOOOOO!
This is funny. All the "firehouse lawyers" most of whom probably don't even have a high school diploma are speculating that Lt. Col. Granzow has taken 508 money for his personal use. If you bother looking past your dislike of the PGFD command staff, you would probably see that they want somebody bigger so they are gonna squeeze all the little fish until one of them talks. Granzow and Sedgewick ain't going nowhere.
Granzow is not the biggest volunteer hater. I am!
Who said it was 508 money? I think if you where smarter than a 5ht grader you'd read the stories clear and understand them and what is being said.
This coming from a PGFD employee, FRY HIM.
Cant we all just GET ALONG!!!
"Grannnzoooooo is a snake and the sorry part of this is, IF HE RETIRES, he will still get a check. If he is put on admin. leave, he will still get a check. So where is the PUNISHMENT? OOPS! Sorry, I forgot, we are dealig with a PAID PERSON!
Funny…I always thought that suspension was reserved for those who have been charged with a crime or infringement of regulations, and punishment was supposed to happen after a person has actually been tried and convicted, much less charged.
At this point in the process, can anyone quote me one single law or department regulation that has been broken?
I didn't think so.
While I understand that there are certainly some among you that are so small and petty that you will grab any opportunity to engage in schadenfreude, but my God…Grow up.
If Granzow ends up to actually be charged with any crime in the future, you all can dance and sing and wet your pants to your hearts delight….but for now, how about we all practice a little common sense, calm down and wait to find out if there is actually any reason for your celebration before you try, convict and punish someone?
Like the man or hate him, Granzow has rights. A honest person would at least treat him the way each and every one of you you would want to be treated.
As I said, Grow. Up.
From the PGFD Website:
Our Code of Ethics
As A Representatives Of The Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department;
We acknowledge that our three fundamental duties are to serve this community; to safeguard lives and property; and to respect the rights of all.
We understand and hereby recognize and commit that our actions must always remain above reproach;
We will remain honest in thought and deed in both personal and official life, and commit that we will strive to conduct our private affairs in a wholesome manner;
We will be exemplary in obeying the laws of the land and the regulations of this Department;
We will never permit personal feelings, prejudices, animosities or friendships to influence our decisions;
We will be constantly mindful of the welfare of others, and;
We will never act maliciously or resort to unnecessary force or violence in the performance of duties.
Should information of a confidential nature be confided in the course of our duties, such information will be kept in confidence unless its revelation is deemed to be absolutely necessary to fulfill our obligation.
We recognize that being permitted to be a part of this organization is both an honor and an expression of public faith. We openly accept this honor as a public trust, to be held only so long as we remain true to the ethical and moral values of the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department.
If Mr. Granzow is found to be cought up in some wrong doing, I am sure he will pay for what he has done. Until then I think we all should remember that he is innocent until proven guilty.
I don't have any respect for him, (can't even call him a man).
I am a volunteer in the county and to have him do what he has done to the volunteers on several occassions is just not right.
Whatever happens to him good or bad it will be deserving. But also remember at some point in his life, he will pay for all the wrong doing he has done.
The county executive and the person we call a county fire chief should be real proud to have such great staff running the county fire dept.RIGHT IN THE GROUND. This department has gone from great to just plain rediculious. I used to be proud to be a volunteer in this department, but as time goes on, I feel sick to be a member.
The paid personnel in this department should not have much to say about too many volunteers and how they operate, considering all the worthless paid people in the department now, seems to me all they want is the benefits and the pay, they have no desire to be FIREMEN.
Take this as you want it, but in the end you all know I have hit a nerve.
Thank you for posting the code of ethics, but you are still jumping the shark.
I ask again…At this point in the process, can anyone quote me one single law or department regulation that has been broken?
Anyone???
I didn't think so.
You all need to remember that at this point, this is nothing more than an investigation. No charges have been filed, and there has not yet been a single accusation of wrongdoing. Not a single one of you even knows the justification for the search warrant. You don't even know if Granzow is related to the investigation, whatever the investigation happens to be.
In fact, you don't even have a clue what is being investigated.
Yet you want to charge, convict and punish. How silly.
If everyone listened to people who think like you — if a search warrant somehow equaled guilt — the Mayor of Berwyn Heights would be in prison right now.
I could care less if you like Granzow or hate him, you all need to stop hyperventilating, calm down, and let the process work to a conclusion.
In two words: Grow. Up.
The paid personnel do only show up for the benifits and pay, If you sit back and look the only true firemen and women are the volunteers. That is why they want the volunteers to be gone, because the volunteers show them up everyday on and off the fire ground. Granzo has been a loser for many years and has always been anti volunteer. The fire chief is one of the biggest idiots we have ever seen in the fire service, and to think he would even allow someone to operate under him with this type of behavior is un thinkable. Sedgewick you and your group of maid at the top should really clear out your desks and go on with your heads down low (don't forget to takes Wells). And just maybe a new chief could arise and possibly bring PGFD back to what it used to be.
These words say it all, but I guess I hit such a nerve that you didn't remember the first part of what I wrote.
If Mr. Granzow is found to be cought up in some wrong doing, I am sure he will pay for what he has done. Until then I think we all should remember that he is innocent until proven guilty.
This has nothing to do with growing up, if you don't like what I wrote, then don't read it. This is a community forum. Freedom of speech!
You want to know what really speaks of character in this situation?
The fact that there are some people out there within the ranks of the fire service who are so small and petty and hold such seething hatred for someone who they likely have never even actually met that they openly cheer and revel at misfortune, yet are never around to improve the system. In fact, they are so small and petty that they can't even muster enough courage in their opinions to sign their name to their comments.
People who act like this will never grow up to be fireMEN, the best they can ever hope to be is a bunch of fireBOYS.
Take this as you want it, but in the end you all know I have hit a nerve, and if you don't like what I wrote, then don't read it.
"In fact, they are so small and petty that they can't even muster enough courage in their opinions to sign their name to their comments."
Way to sign your name "anonymous"
I was a volunteer with PG years ago before moving out of state and this is no surprise with "this" command staff. I miss the old days when PG had real fire chiefs that where progressive and forward thinking. I know all PG Chiefs have to play politics between the two sides but the current staff seems to have taken one of the best departments in the US back into the dark ages.
I can believe you were a volunteer "some years ago", because you exhibit absolutely no clue of how empty the volunteer system actually is today.
Reminds me of the old saying: Do you know the difference between a Prince George's County volunteer fire department, and the Boy Scounts of America? At least the Boy Scouts can guarantee they will always have adult supervision.
It isn't the county that changed…it was the volunteers.
Any management system that still relies heavily on volunteers for control, yet allows those same volunteers to operate with little or no accountability, IS operating in the dark ages.
Face it: Modern operational management should always be conducted by professionals who the citizens can hold to at least some standard of accountability.
Volunteers having the power to run the show is a thing of the past. Welcome to the future.