Former mayor sentenced to three years in book scheme
BALTIMORE » The disgraced former mayor of Baltimore was sentenced to three years in federal prison Thursday for arranging fraudulent sales of her selfpublished children’s books to nonprofits and foundations to promote her political career and fund her run for the city’s highest office.
The scandal has shaken Maryland’s largest city, which for years has struggled with grinding poverty, political mismanagement, record crime rates and police abuses that led to massive riots. And it made a mockery of Catherine Pugh’s inaugural promise to restore trust in Baltimore’s leaders.
Pugh was also sentenced to serve three years of supervised release after getting out of prison. She pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy and tax evasion charges in November. The veteran Democratic politician was elected mayor in 2016 and resigned under pressure in May as authorities investigated bulk sales of her “Healthy Holly” paperbacks, which netted her hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Federal authorities accused Pugh, 69, of double selling the books, keeping many for self- promotion purposes and failing to deliver them to institutions they were purchased for, including the Baltimore City Public Schools. Pugh used the proceeds to fund straw donations to her mayoral campaign and buy a new house.
Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow to sentence the former mayor to nearly five years in prison, while her attorneys suggested a term of one year and a day.
A vi s i - bly stressed Pugh walked i nto the courtroom on Thursday flanked by her attorneys. She teared up before the hearing began when she turned around in her seat and saw friends and others sitting in the packed courtroom. Her attorney handed her a box of tissues and briefly rubbed her back.
Pugh expressed regret for her actions in a video submitted to the court Wednesday night by her attorneys.
Ahead of her sentencing, dozens of people submitted letters to the federal judge pleading for leniency, including Kweisi Mfume, the former NAACP leader and Democratic nominee for Maryland’s 7th Congressional District.
Pugh, helped by longtime aide Gary Brown Jr., carefully carried out the scheme over more than seven years, starting when she was a Maryland state senator and into her tenure as Baltimore’s mayor. Brown and another Pugh associate, Roslyn Wedington, await sentencing after pleading guilty to conspiracy and tax fraud.
A detailed accounting of the sales presented by prosecutors revealed that organizations paid Pugh $ 859,960 for orders of more than 132,100 copies. But only about 73,200 copies were printed. In their sentencing memorandum, prosecutors said Pugh’s personal inventory of books never exceeded 8,216 copies, but she resold them repeatedly through the elaborate scheme.