Crime & Safety

'Mayor Pugh Must Resign,' Says Maryland Governor Larry Hogan

Agents from the federal government converged at the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and City Hall.

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Mayor Catherine Pugh has been on leave since April 1, 2019. (Mark Wilson | Getty)
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The FBI is reportedly at the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh on Thursday, April 25. (Shutterstock)

BALTIMORE, MD — Agents with the FBI and IRS converged at City Hall and the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh Thursday morning as well as other properties tied to her. The mayor has been on leave since April 1 as she recovers from pneumonia. At the same time, she has been under scrutiny for netting more than half a million dollars in book deals from health-care companies that do business with the government.

Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, is now calling on Pugh to resign, more than three weeks after he requested an ethics probe into the sale of Pugh's "Healthy Holly" children's books to the University of Maryland Medical System.

"On April 1, I directed the state prosecutor to investigate the disturbing allegations surrounding Mayor Catherine Pugh’s questionable financial dealings with the University of Maryland Medical System. Today, agents for the FBI and the IRS executed search warrants at the mayor’s homes and offices," Hogan said in a statement on Thursday, April 25. "Now more than ever, Baltimore City needs strong and responsible leadership. Mayor Pugh has lost the public trust. She is clearly not fit to lead. For the good of the city, Mayor Pugh must resign."

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The University of Maryland Medical System was reportedly subpoenaed Thursday as part of the federal investigation into Pugh.

After speaking with Pugh Thursday afternoon, her attorney told WBAL that the mayor was suffering from bronchitis and remained in ill health, not fit to make a decision about the future.

Find out what's happening in Baltimorefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Pugh, a Democrat, has been the mayor of Baltimore since December 2016. Before that, she served in the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates as well as on the Baltimore City Council.


In addition to Pugh's Ashburton home and City Hall on Holliday Street, the feds were executing search warrants at the Maryland Center for Adult Training on Druid Park Drive, according to The Baltimore Sun. Pugh had reportedly once been a chair of the Park Heights-based workforce development program, which operates as a nonprofit organization.

Those were not the only places where agents turned up Thursday morning.

Federal officials were searching the home of Gary Brown Jr., one of three aides to Pugh fired by acting Baltimore Mayor Jack Young on Wednesday, April 24, the Baltimore Brew reported. The aides were said to have been on the board of the Maryland Center for Adult Training, which had deleted the page showing its board of directors as of Thursday morning.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

SEE ALSO: Baltimore Mayor Takes Leave Of Absence: Report

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