Former Baltimore mayor expected to plead guilty to perjury in state case

BALTIMORE — Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh is expected to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of perjury in state court, the prosecutor says, before she departs later this month for federal prison in Alabama.

Maryland State Prosecutor Charlton Howard III said he expects Pugh to plead guilty at a hearing June 19 in Anne Arundel Circuit Court. Prosecutors charged her with perjury for omitting her lucrative “Healthy Holly” children’s book business on financial disclosure forms during her time as a state senator.

The perjury charge carries a maximum of 10 years in state prison.

Howard declined to discuss the terms of her plea deal. Pugh’s attorney, Andy White, declined to comment on the terms.

Pugh’s federal prison term has been postponed while the state case resolves. She’s scheduled to leave in two weeks for the Federal Correctional Institution, Aliceville, a women’s low-security prison about two hours west of Birmingham, Ala.

Pugh’s downfall began last year when The Baltimore Sun revealed she had entered into a no-bid deal with the University of Maryland Medical System, where Pugh sat on the board of directors, to buy 100,000 copies of her sloppily self-published “Healthy Holly” books for $500,000. She later resigned from the board and as mayor amid multiple investigations into her finances and the book sales. In total, she netted more than $850,000, prosecutors say.

At the same time, she failed to print thousands of copies, double-sold thousands more and took many others to use for self-promotion, according to prosecutors. Investigators also asserted that she laundered illegal campaign contributions and failed to pay taxes.

Pugh pleaded guilty in November 2019 to federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, and two counts of tax evasion. U.S. District Judge Deborah Chasanow sentenced Pugh to three years in federal prison.

Meanwhile, Gov. Larry Hogan asked the state prosecutor to conduct his own investigation, resulting in the perjury charge. State law requires members of the General Assembly to disclose their financial interests. Though Pugh disclosed her clothing business, she did not make mention of her “Healthy Holly” books.

Pugh served about a decade in the General Assembly before she was elected mayor in 2016.

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(Reporter Justin Fenton contributed to this article.)

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PHOTO (for help with images, contact 312-222-4194): Pugh