Perjury Charge Filed Against Former Mayor Catherine Pugh

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Catherine Pugh, the former Baltimore mayor and Maryland delegate, has been accused of perjury stemming from statements she signed about her finances, the Office of the State Prosecutor announced Wednesday.

Pugh served as a member of the Maryland Senate from 2007 to 2016. While a senator, she was on various committees, including the Senate Health Committee.

According to the criminal information statement released by the state prosecutor, the former mayor failed to disclose her finances related to Health Holly LLC, the company she founded in 2012 for a self-published book series about a character named Holly.

The statement released Wednesday shows that Pugh received thousands of dollars from health care companies for sales of her Healthy Holly children's books. In 2016 alone, authorities said she earned $100,000 from the University of Maryland Medical System and $50,000 from Kaiser Permanente, contributing to the $345,000 she is accused of netting that year from her Healthy Holly books.

She signed a form Jan. 3, 2017, swearing the financial disclosure information from 2016 was accurate yet knowing that it was incomplete and the "facts sworn to were materially false," according to the criminal information statement.

The state charge was filed in Anne Arundel County, where Pugh served as a senator in Annapolis.

See Also: Ex-Mayor Catherine Pugh Pleads Guilty To Fraud Conspiracy

"Our office is committed to ensuring that those who abuse positions of trust in our state and local governments are held accountable by the state of Maryland," Maryland State Prosecutor Charlton Howard said in a statement. "Transparency from our elected officials is an essential aspect of protecting Maryland residents from corruption and political malfeasance."

The state charge is separate from federal charges filed against Pugh in November.

Pugh pleaded guilty Nov. 21 to two counts of federal tax evasion related to the Healthy Holly book scandal. She is slated to be sentenced for that Feb. 27.

Pugh was elected mayor of Baltimore in 2016. She resigned May 2 after being on leave since April 1, citing pneumonia in stepping aside at a time when she also was under scrutiny for netting more than half a million dollars in book deals from health care companies that do business with the government.

State v Pugh

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