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NORFOLK — When he was running for mayor in 2016, then-Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe handed James Baylor a $12,500 check, according to testimony.
The check was from — and signed by — Gerard “Jerry” Boyle, owner of the company that contracted with the city jail to provide inmate medical care.
But something was missing: The “pay to the order of” field was blank.
Testifying in U.S. District Court Friday, Baylor said McCabe told him Boyle wanted to donate to his mayoral campaign, but he didn’t want his name on it.
Baylor said he wrote his name on the “payee” line and deposited it. He and three other friends then wrote their own checks to McCabe’s campaign with that money, he testified.
Prosecutors allege McCabe, 63, used straw donors to conceal Boyle as the source of the donation and conspired to commit money laundering in relation to the $12,500 check, one of the charges for which he’s been on trial since last week in U.S. District Court.
McCabe, who was Norfolk’s sheriff for 22 years, is accused of using his position to solicit bribes and campaign donations from people associated with two companies that had multimillion-dollar contracts with the jail: food vendor ABL Management and medical services contractor Correct Care Solutions.
Boyle also has been charged in the case and is scheduled for trial later this year. John Appleton, who was the CEO of ABL Management and testified during trial, was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his cooperation in the case.
Prosecutors rested their case Friday. The federal trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday, when McCabe’s lawyer, James Broccoletti, will present his defense.
Broccoletti has said any gifts, trips or campaign contributions McCabe received from Boyle or Appleton were due to their friendship, not their business dealings.
From the witness stand Friday, Baylor testified that Boyle called him about the $12,500 check in late 2016, when allegations against McCabe began to surface.
Boyle was concerned the check was going to cause McCabe a problem, Baylor said.
Baylor said he also spoke to McCabe about the check, and McCabe said he would “man up” about it if it came out.
Baylor described giving campaign contributions to McCabe over the years, loaning him money when McCabe was gambling and letting the sheriff use his limousine.
Baylor owns about 80 properties in Hampton Roads and runs Baylor Corp., a general contracting company.
Baylor said McCabe told him he had a good relationship with the Norfolk City Council and connected Baylor with then-Councilman Anthony Burfoot about a lease the city had for one of Baylor’s properties.
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The Sheriff’s Office rented a warehouse Baylor owned, and some work-release inmates worked for Baylor’s business partner in restaurants, according to testimony. McCabe also hired Baylor’s wife for a job at the Sheriff’s Office.
Under questioning from McCabe’s attorney, Baylor said he donated to McCabe’s campaign, loaned him money and took trips with him because they were friends. He said there wasn’t a connection between what he gave McCabe and the lease agreement he had with the city. Despite his friendship with the sheriff, Baylor said there were jail projects he bid on that he did not get.
Also Friday, two people testified that Norman Hughey, a former Norfolk undersheriff, told them McCabe asked him to contact Boyle and inform him what the competing bids were when Correct Care Solutions and others were trying to win the jail’s medical contract in 2010.
They said Hughey, who was on the committee that reviewed the bidders’ proposals, told them he wouldn’t do it. Hughey died in 2019.
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence they say showed McCabe took gifts but didn’t disclose them in documents certain officials are required to complete.
They also say McCabe used campaign donations for personal expenses — including transferring money to his personal account when he was in the red — and concealed it on campaign finance disclosure forms.
Margaret Matray, 757-222-5216, margaret.matray@pilotonline.com