Remember Catherine Pugh, the former mayor of Baltimore? The “Healthy Holly” scandal?
She’s just been indicted on 11 counts of “fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy”.
In a grand jury indictment made public Wednesday, prosecutors allege Pugh defrauded area businesses and nonprofit organizations with nearly $800,000 in sales of her “Healthy Holly” books to unlawfully enrich herself, promote her political career and illegally fund her campaign for mayor.
Though her customers ordered more than 100,000 copies of the books, the indictment says Pugh failed to print thousands of copies, double-sold others and took some to use for self-promotion. Pugh, 69, used the profits to buy a house, pay down debt, and make illegal straw donations to her campaign, prosecutors allege.
I don’t have a lot of time to dwell on this at the moment (I’ll be leaving work in about 15 minutes and hoping I don’t have to deal with the presidental motorcade) but I may update later this evening or tomorrow.
(Hattip to Mike the Musicologist. Apparently, there are several web sites reporting she’s been convicted, but the Sun’s coverage is just reporting an indictment.)