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Grand jury to meet next week in City Hall corruption probe
BALTIMORE -
State prosecutors plan to present evidence before a Baltimore City Grand Jury next week in the ongoing City Hall political corruption probe connected to the raid of Mayor Sheila Dixon’s house Tuesday, sources familiar with the investigation told The Examiner Wednesday. In the next two weeks, city staffers and private business people will be subpoenaed to testify in front of the grand jury, which could eventually lead to possible indictments, the sources said. City Solicitor George Nilson said five city staffers -- Lauretta Brown, Sharon Jackson, Anne Lansey, Chelsea Scott, and Wanda Watts -- have been subpoenaed, but would not release the documents. A source close to the investigation said late Wednesday that four subpoenas — including two for city employees — are forthcoming. Dixon appeared upbeat during a Wednesday morning news conference -- her first since investigators raided her Southwest Baltimore home at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday. “For those of you who think I’m a bit stressed out today, I’m not, because I look at my God,” Dixon said. “I look at what I do physically and spiritually.” Dixon said she was focused on “moving the city forward.” She declined to answer questions seeking details on what prosecutors removed from her home. Sources familiar with the probe said investigators are focusing on gifts given to Dixon by a politically connected contractor, though they said prosecutors have expressed reservations about the strength of the case and still don’t have the evidence needed for indictments. When asked if she owned a fur coat, Dixon said she owned “several.” State Prosecutor Robert Rohrbaugh refused to release how much money his agency has spent investigating Dixon and others connected to City Hall during a two-year investigation that has landed two convictions. He said such record-keeping would be “extremely burdensome.” Gerald Martin, the attorney for Doracon Contracting Inc. owner Ronald Lipscomb, whose offices state prosecutors recently raided, called the invasion of Dixon’s privacy “obscene” and “arrogant.” “If they want something from the mayor, they can ask for it,” Lipscomb said. “It shows disrespect. There are a lot of people whose names are being tarnished and he won’t have any proof they did anything wrong.” Prominent area defense attorney, Dwight Pettit called the probe, “unfair.” “We’re looking at four or five years now,” he said. “If they have something, produce it. Get off the woman. They’d be very, very hard-pressed to convict her in Baltimore City. A Baltimore jury will laugh them out of court.” Two Dixon associates have pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns in the two-year probe, which began amid allegations of conflict of interest between Dixon and her sister, Janice Dixon’s former employer, Union Technologies, also known as Utech. Examiner Staff Writer Jaime Malarkey contributed to this report. lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com |
