Jan 12, 2009 11:17 pm US/Eastern
City Employee Could Be Smoking Gun Against Dixon
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BALTIMORE (WJZ/AP) ―
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An unnamed city employee could be the smoking gun in the case against Mayor Sheila Dixon.
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An unnamed city employee could be the smoking gun in the case against Mayor Sheila Dixon. The mayor faces a 12-count indictment, jail time and the end of her political career.
Mike Hellgren has new insight into a suspicious financial transaction detailed in that indictment.
It's detailed on page seven. The mayor allegedly handed a city employee $4,000 in cash to pay her credit card bill.
Who is employee number one and how critical will his role be in this case against the mayor? Both questions swirl around an odd financial transaction the prosecutor spells out in the indictment.
After detailing lavish trips and gifts the mayor received from her then-boyfriend, big-time developer Ron Lipscomb, it states thousands of dollars spent at exclusive stores went straight to the mayor's American Express card. The indictment then delves deeper into how the card was paid off, including one very odd financial transaction.
The prosecutor alleges while being driven from her home, Sheila Dixon handed 40 $100 bills to a city employee, then asked that employee to deposit the money into his personal bank account and use a personal check to pay $4,000 on her American Express card.
The employee's identity is unknown, but the person could be pivotal to the case. It's likely someone close to the mayor.
Will employee #1 testify if the case goes to trial? Is that person still employed by the city?
University of Maryland law professor Larry Gibson notes the mayor is not accused of exchanging any public funds.
"There were no charges involving the normal things you would see--city contracts, city money, jobs or real estate," Gibson said.
The mayor is accused of lying on her financial disclosure forms, not reporting gifts from someone like Lipscomb, who was receiving tax breaks from the city for his developments in Harbor East. Also, the mayor is accused of stealing gift cards meant for needy families and using them to buy gifts for herself.
"If she is tried in Baltimore City by the jury of her peers, the jury has that option of nullifying the case, notwithstanding the veracity of any of these allegations," said Loyola assistant law professor Michael Runnels.
WJZ was at City Hall as council members got down to business at a working luncheon Monday, vowing the case will not be a distraction. Helen Holton, who has also been indicted and is accused of taking a bribe from Lipscomb, was among them.
Holton says the indictment against her was "cobbled together by prosecutors to reach a predetermined result."
Holton has been charged with taking a bribe from Lipscomb in exchange for her support for tax breaks for his projects. Lipscomb was also indicted last week on a bribery charge.
Holton said at Monday night's City Council meeting that the charges are "legally and factually meritless." She accused the Maryland State Prosecutor's office of targeting her to justify a lengthy and expensive investigation of city government. The probe lasted nearly three years.
This is the first City Council meeting since the state indicted the mayor and Councilwoman Holton on charges stemming from the corruption investigation.
"These last several days have been very difficult for me and my family. I also want to assure the public that I have done nothing wrong," Holton said.
She says the state prosecutor's investigators interviewed her twice.
"Not until just before New Year's was I advised that I was a target of the grand jury and was to be indicted on Jan. 7," she said. "We will demonstrate the charges are legally and factually meritless."
Other council members attacked the media. The council president vowed the indictments would not be a distraction.
"I just want to remind us all that allegations are exactly that and they will be answered as part of a legal process in the courtroom and not in City Hall," City Council President Stephanie Rawlings Blake said.
The mayor has stuck to her public schedule since the charges went public. She hasn't spoken about the case since Friday.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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