Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon was indicted today by a Baltimore City grand jury on charges involving an alleged failure to report gifts from a developer and misusing gift cards intended for needy families, state prosecutors said.
Click here to download the indictment charging Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon.
Click here to download the indictment charging Baltimore City Councilwoman Helen Holton.
Click here to download the indictment charging developer Ronald Lipscomb.
Dixon, 55, is charged with perjury, theft, fraudulent misappropriation, and misconduct in office.
The indictment alleges that Dixon did not disclose gifts in 2004 from a real estate developer she was dating, Ronald Lipscomb, including travel, lodging and other gifts used by the then-Baltimore City Council president to purchase fur coats.
The indictment also alleges that Dixon collected gift cards from developers intended for needy families, but instead used the cards to purchase a video game system, CDs, and DVDs for her family or gave them to staff members.
The indictment comes two days after the grand jury charged Lipscomb, president of Doracon Contracting Inc., and Baltimore City Councilwoman Helen Holton.
The charges against Holton stem from a payment of $12,500 made by Lipscomb’s company 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.
In a statement released shortly after the indictment, Dixon said she was being “unfairly accused.”
“There is something I want to tell the citizens of this great city about the charges that the State Prosecutor has brought against me today,” the mayor wrote.
“For the past two years, I have done my best to serve the City of Baltimore as Mayor, and I will continue to do so. I will not let these charges deter me from keeping Baltimore on the path that we have set, or from carrying forward the significant progress we have made thus far.
“I am being unfairly accused. Time will prove that I have done nothing wrong, and I am confident that I will be found innocent of these charges. But, for the moment, I cannot comment further on the allegations that have been made against me. Instead, my attorneys will address these matters on my behalf.
“I want to make it clear, though, that I will continue to put all of my energies into running the City of Baltimore during these perilous economic times. And with God’s grace, I am confident that the city, my family and I will weather this storm.”
Dixon has scheduled a 4 p.m. news conference to respond to the charges.
