Posted on 05/07/25
| News Source: FOX45
Baltimore, MD - May 7, 2025 - A recent state legislative audit has revealed significant operational deficiencies within Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services (DJS), the agency tasked with reforming the state's most delinquent juveniles.
The audit highlights a lack of processes to ensure previously reported deficiencies have been corrected and to confirm that criminal background checks have been conducted on employees.
The audit uncovered that one employee, who works directly with juveniles, has a criminal record, including convictions for assault and possessing a dangerous weapon. Additionally, a previous FOX45 investigation revealed that the department had hired Joel Caston, a convicted murderer, who now serves as an administrator.
David Williams, a taxpayer advocate, expressed concern over the repeated issues within the department. "These are repeated problems and that should be a problem to everyone in the state," Williams said.
The audit also identified longstanding procurement issues, noting that over a three-year period, DJS paid 57% of its vendors with 'direct voucher payments,' which bypass the normal purchasing process and are difficult to track. Auditors found that DJS had paid $1.5 million for an invoice that had previously been denied.
Furthermore, the audit revealed that DJS employees were working double shifts without supervisor approval, and in 2023, 10 employees received overtime payments that far exceeded their regular earnings. The agency's overtime budget was over by $4.5 million.
"It really wreaks of incompetence," Williams said. "We're talking about general procurement responsibilities they're not following through with. When you don't have foundation strength of procurement process you'll have a lot of money prone to waste, fraud and abuse and we're seeing this in this report."
DJS Secretary Vincent Schiraldi acknowledged that many of the problems began before his tenure but stated, "Our team has made it a priority to identify and address operational weaknesses both prior to and throughout the audit period. Upon receipt of the preliminary findings, we acted swiftly and proactively to begin correcting the deficiencies outlined in the report."
Despite these efforts, Williams remains skeptical. "There is enough responsibility to go around and no one is taking responsibility. Someone needs to step up and be a leader and ensure this does not happen again," he said.