BALTIMORE (AP) FBI and IRS agents raided the homes and offices of Baltimores embattled mayor today amid widening probes to determine whether she used sales of her childrens books to disguise government kickbacks.
Dave Fitz, an FBI spokesman in the agencys Baltimore office, said agents with the FBI and the IRS criminal division in Washington were searching both of Mayor Catherine Pughs homes and her offices at City Hall, as well the home of a top aide and other places. He said he couldnt release more information because the warrants are sealed.
Pugh has been facing mounting calls for her to resign over a scandal involving her self-published childrens books, which she sold to a health plan that does business with the city, as well as to the University of Maryland Medical System, on whose board she sat while serving as a state lawmaker. Pugh sold $500,000 worth of the books to the $4 billion hospital network over the years, and meanwhile pushed legislation that would have benefited the regional system.
The federal case comes amid a criminal investigation by the state prosecutors office, which began at the request of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, as well as probes by the Baltimore Inspector General, a city ethics board and the state insurance commission.
As federal agents gathered boxes of evidence in the mayors office and police cordoned off her homes with yellow tape, City Council member Brandon Scott called the raids an embarrassment to the city.
The mayor should resign. We have too many issues facing the city of Baltimore that require the full-time attention of a full-time mayor, Scott said.
Pughs spokesman, James Bentley, said today that he hadnt spoken with the mayor and doesnt know where she is.
Her defense attorney, Steve Silverman, did not immediately return calls; his office routed calls to an answering machine. Yellow police tape surrounded her home as agents searched inside.
City Solicitor Andre Davis said City Hall is cooperating fully with federal investigators.
Its been more than three weeks since Pugh slipped out of sight, citing deteriorating health from a pneumonia bout. Six of her staffers joined her on paid leave; on Wednesday, the acting mayor fired three of them.
Pugh said she was going on leave on the same day Hogan asked for the investigation of her Healthy Holly book sales, which earned about $800,000 for her limited liability company.
Since then, the first-term mayor has been asked to resign by the entire lineup of the current City Council, all Baltimore lawmakers in Marylands House of Delegates, the influential Greater Baltimore Committee business group and others. Marylands chief accountant called Pughs self-dealing arrangements to sell her books as brazen, cartoonish corruption.
But only a conviction can trigger a Baltimore mayors removal from office, according to City Solicitor Andre Davis and the state constitution. Baltimores mayor-friendly City Charter currently provides no options for ousting its executive.
The charter is utterly silent on how long the leave can last, exactly what the reasons are for a leave, Davis told reporters.
Members of Pughs communications staff have said repeatedly that she intends to return to City Hall when she is feeling better, but have declined to provide any timetable.
With the investigations intensifying, political analysts said Pughs biggest bargaining chip is her refusal to resign in a city accustomed to a high-drama, insular political culture.
