Chantilly Air & Space Parking Manager Pleads Guilty to Skimming $1.4 Million in Parking Fees

A parking lot manager at the Smithsonian Institution’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly pleaded guilty last week to conspiring to steal $1.4 million skimmed from parking fees, according to a news release from the FBI Washington office.

Abeselom Hailemariam, 33, of Alexandria was an employee of Parking Management, Inc. or PMI when he conspired to steal the money, from March 2009 to July 2012 with attendants he supervised. He will be sentenced July 19 and faces up to five years in prison.

Hailemariam was arrested last month at Washington-Dulles International Airport by agents from the FBI and the Smithsonian's Office of Inspector General. 

Parking lot attendants/former PMI employees Meseret Terefe, 37, of Silver Spring, Md. and Freweyni Mebrahtu, 46, of Sterling, were also

The FBI explained how the theft worked:

• Hailemariam submitted "operations reports" to PMI and the Smithsonian for the 2,000-car lot.
• Attendants withheld parking ticket stubs from paying customers and unplugged an electronic vehicle counter.
• At the end of their shifts, they would submit false "shift summary reports" to Hailemariam, undercounting the cars parking at the Smithsonian.
• Hailemariam then submitted false reports to PMI; the company turned the reports in to the Smithsonian.
• Attendants sometimes bundled cash received from paying customers with their reports to Hailemariam.

The total take was $1,383,195. The parking fee is $15. Officials estimated Hailemariam participated in a conspiracy that stole from at least 92,213 visitor vehicles over the course of the crime.

The Smithsonian Office of the Inspector General initiated the investigation and jointly investigated the case with the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jasmine Yoon and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James McDonald are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.