Former Baltimore mayor faces fraud and tax evasion charges
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Version 0 of 1. Federal indictment accuses Catherine Pugh of using her Healthy Holly children’s books to promote her career and fund mayoral run The disgraced former mayor of Baltimore has been charged with fraud and tax evasion involving sales of her self-published children’s books. An 11-count federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday accuses Catherine Pugh of using her Healthy Holly children’s books to enrich herself, promote her political career and fund her run for mayor. The Department of Justice said the grand jury indicted Pugh on federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, seven counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and two counts of tax evasion. She is expected to surrender to US Marshals before an initial appearance and arraignment on Thursday before Judge Deborah K Chasanow in Baltimore. Also unsealed on Wednesday were the guilty pleas of the former Baltimore City employees Gary Brown, Jr and Roslyn Wedington. Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax fraud. “Corrupt public employees rip off the taxpayers and undermine everyone’s faith in government,” said US attorney Robert K Hur in an announcement of the charges. “Our elected officials must place the interests of the citizens above their own.” Pugh resigned in early May after authorities began investigating whether she arranged bulk sales of Healthy Holly books to disguise hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks. FBI and IRS agents raided her offices, homes and other locations in late April and seized several items, including money transfer receipts, a laptop, compact discs and a $100,000 check from the University of Maryland Medical System to Pugh’s Healthy Holly company. The first-term Democrat became mayor in late 2016. Pugh has been in seclusion since early April, when she took a leave from the mayor’s office due to what her lawyer described as poor health following a bout of pneumonia. Attorney Steven Silverman at that time asserted that Pugh was so fragile physically and mentally that she was unable to make “major decisions”. Federal, state and local investigations have been looking into questionable financial arrangements that over the years netted Pugh roughly $800,000 for her hard-to-find books. The books were meant to be provided to schools and daycare centers, but it is unclear where tens of thousands of copies ended up. The Democrat became mayor in late 2016 after having served in the state legislature since 2005. Pugh, 69, became the second mayor of Baltimore in less than a decade to step down because of a scandal. Former Mayor Sheila Dixon left office in 2010 as part of a plea deal for misappropriating about $500 in gift cards meant for needy families. A longtime city council member, Bernard “Jack” Young, took over the role of mayor after Pugh resigned. He inherited a city with failing schools, a thriving illegal drug market and one of the nation’s highest rates of violent crime. |