“Federal investigators are reportedly trying to locate the source of a fraudulent surety bond provided to a small Maryland prime contractor for its work in St. Mary’s County on a museum and visitor’s center at the Patuxent Naval Air Base in southern Maryland. The county has taken steps to terminate the contractor, whose attorneys say they are trying to prevent termination because their client has been the victim of a fraud and has lost $175,000 in premium that was paid.
The surety bond covered the contractor’s work on the $4.7-million building project, which broke ground with an opening ceremony in October but is now stalled.
St. Mary’s County ordered the contractor, Baltimore-based Broughton Construction Co., to stop work December 7.
The stalled project recently came to public attention when the prime contractor was unable to satisfy the county with a replacement surety bond.”