Dana McDaniel, a former Deputy Director at the District's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE), admitted her role in a bribery scheme, as announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia. The 44-year-old Washington, D.C. resident entered a guilty plea, conceding that she took at least $10,000 in exchange for wielding her influence to favor another through ONSE's resources and interventions. McDaniel's job primarily focused on aiding at-risk individuals and communities suffering under the weight of violence in the nation's capital, specifically with programs like the Violence Intervention (VI) Initiative.
McDaniel oversaw agency programming from January 2020 through April 2023 and leveraged her position to direct contracts and grants to businesses connected to a Maryland resident. These businesses were supposedly geared towards servicing high-risk youths and adults, and one was involved in VI services within Ward 5 of D.C. The U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia, disclosed that the bribery activity spanned before September 2022 and continued until August 2024.
Set for sentencing on August 6, by U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras, McDaniel could face a maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment. Her sentence will be determined after the consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines along with other statutory factors. The FBI Washington Field Office has taken the lead in this investigation, with significant contributions from the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations and the Inspector General of the District of Columbia, as per the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia. Assistant United States Attorneys Rebecca G. Ross, John Crabb, and Joshua Rothstein are handling the prosecution of this case.
