Jun 19, 2008 12:26 pm US/Eastern
Dixon: 'I Did Nothing Wrong'
BALTIMORE (WJZ/AP) ―
Investigators with the state prosecutor's office, who have been probing Mayor Sheila Dixon's financial dealings during her tenure as City Council president, searched her home Tuesday for more than seven hours. State prosecutors also issued subpoenas to five city employees. Three of them work in the mayor's office.
Dixon told Mike Hellgren at Wednesday's Board of Estimates meeting, she is keeping her focus on Baltimore City and has nothing more to say about the investigation.
"For those who might think I am a little stressed out right now, I'm not, because I look at my God and what I do physically and mentally to move forward," Dixon said.
She didn't discuss what the investigators took.
"I'm really not going to discuss what they took from the house. They did provide me with a list and I have that," she said.
Attorney Dale Kelberman says Dixon and her two children were in their Baltimore home at 6:30 a.m. when representatives of the prosecutor's office arrived with a search warrant and Dixon let them in.
Kelberman says he's not exactly sure what's in the documents and says he has not seen the search warrant. He says Dixon has done nothing wrong and says that's why Dixon has not been charged. Kelberman, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland who concentrates on white-collar criminal defense cases, is also representing state Sen. Ulysses Currie, who is being investigated by federal authorities.
Dixon told Eyewitness News she has "done nothing wrong."
Investigators left the house with at least six boxes and a cooler. Dixon declined to say what was in the boxes, but said she is cooperating with authorities.
"I have nothing to hide," she said.
State prosecutor Robert Rohrbaugh says his office does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.
In addition to Tuesday's raid of Dixon's home, state prosecutors issued subpoenas to five city employees.
City Solicitor George Nilson confirms those employees were Lauretta Brown, Chelsea Scott, Sharon Jackson, Wanda Watts and Anne Lansey. They were subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury.
Prosecutors did not seize any documents from the five women.
Brown, Scott and Jackson work in Dixon's office. Brown is deputy director of the mayor's office of constituent services; Scott is an assistant scheduler; and Jackson is an assistant. Watts works for the city's health department, and Lansey works for the transportation department.
The mayor's lawyers and councilmembers are critical of the time and taxpayer money spent by an independent prosecutor whose investigation appeared to be at a dead end.
One member of the City Council is calling this a violation of the mayor's home and privacy.
"My thought is I'm tired of my mayor being subject to home invasions. I think they should back off and go after serious problems and leave the mayor alone," said Mary Pat Clarke.
"These investigations are done in secret, confidential, so that facts don't dribble out and public officials don't get tried in the press," said Andrew Levy, University of Maryland School of Law.
For more than two years, state prosecutors have been looking into Dixon's financial dealings during her tenure as City Council president. The probe involves city money that went to companies employing Dixon's sister and her former campaign chairman. Dixon maintains she did nothing wrong and the Baltimore City Board of Ethics cleared her last year of any wrongdoing.
In November, prosecutors raided the offices of Doracon Contracting Inc., whose owner, Ronald H. Lipscomb, has ties to the mayor. The office has also issued subpoenas to the Baltimore Development Corp., a quasi-public agency that negotiates the city's most important development deals, and to the city Finance Department and the city Board of Estimates. A subpoena was also issued to Howard Dixon, a special assistant to the mayor. He is not related to the mayor.
In 2003, Doracon hired Utech, as a subcontractor on an East Baltimore project that received millions of dollars in city and state subsidies. Utech employed Dixon's sister, Janice, and Dixon advocated for the project as Council president.
Utech's owner, Mildred Boyer, pleaded guilty in March to falsifying tax returns. She used city letterhead to falsely claim her company had won a city contract so she could get a loan, part of which paid for her house. Prosecutors said then that Boyer agreed to cooperate on "other matters." Boyer's attorneys have said she has no connection with the mayor.
Dixon's former campaign chairman, Dale G. Clark, has pleaded guilty to failing to file state income tax returns after earning $500,000 as the City Council's computer consultant.
Dixon succeeded Governor Martin O'Malley as mayor in 2007. She had previously served on City Council.
At this stage, there's no way to tell what prosecutors will do with the seized documents or where the investigation goes from here. Dixon has not been charged with any crime.
Stay with WJZ.COM for the latest on this developing story.
(© 2008 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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