Maryland State prosecutors eyeing an indictment against Mayor Sheila Dixon will have their last shot with the current grand jury today.
Click here to download the indictment charging Baltimore City Councilwoman Helen Holton.
Click here to download the indictment charging developer Ronald Lipscomb.
Two days after indicting Dixon’s ex-boyfriend Ronald Lipscomb, a developer, and Baltimore City Councilwoman Helen Holton, the grand jurors could be asked to consider charging the mayor today, according to sources familiar with the case.
When asked at the Maryland Association of Counties conference in Cambridge on Thursday whether she had been alerted of any pending indictment, Dixon shook her head indicating “no.”
Dixon’s attorney, Arnold Weiner, said he couldn’t comment on the case until after the grand jury is finished for the day.
In many ways, today could mark a crossroads in the political corruption investigation that has loomed over City Hall for at least four years and been considered by nearly a dozen grand juries. The last two grand juries have appeared the most active; state investigators raided the mayor’s house last June.
“It was a witch-hunt from day one,” said former City Councilman Tony Ambridge, who now works with Lipscomb. “Any prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich. It’s taken them eight grand juries? It’s shameful, and it’s scary.”
Holton, a Democrat representing District 8, was removed from a leadership position on the City Council Thursday after being indicted Wednesday on charges of bribery, perjury, malfeasance in office and nonfeasance in office.
The charges against Holton stem from a payment of $12,500 made by Lipscomb’s company, Doracon Contracting Inc., in 2007 for a political survey for Holton. At the time, Holton was seeking re-election and requested the invoice be sent directly to Doracon — and the company paid the bill, prosecutors said.
Lipscomb’s company was seeking tax incentives at the time on projects in which his company was a partner, prosecutors said. Holton then failed to report the gift on her Financial Disclosure Statement to the city’s ethics board, prosecutors said.
Lipscomb was charged with bribery.
Political observers expressed surprise Thursday that Holton had been indicted, while Dixon had not yet been. Dixon admitted exchanging gifts with Lipscomb.
“There’s a sense that everyone’s waiting for the other shoe to drop,” said Towson professor Richard Vatz.
Examiner Staff Writer Len Lazarick contributed to this report.
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