BALTIMORE _ Federal law enforcement agents fanned out Thursday across Baltimore, raiding City Hall, the home of embattled Mayor Catherine Pugh and several other locations as the investigation into the mayor's business dealings widened.
Dave Fitz, an FBI spokesman, confirmed agents from the Baltimore FBI office and the Washington IRS office were executing search warrants at those locations Thursday morning, as well as at least three other addresses associated with the Democratic mayor. It was the first confirmation that federal authorities, as well as state officials, were investigating the mayor's activities.
Pugh remained inside her home during the raids, a police source confirmed.
Shortly after the raids began, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan called on Pugh, who has taken a leave of absence as mayor, to resign. The Republican governor had asked the Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor on April 1 to investigate Pugh's sales of her self-published "Healthy Holly" children's book series to the University of Maryland Medical System while she was on its unpaid board of directors.
"Today, agents for the FBI and the IRS executed search warrants at the mayor's homes and offices," Hogan said. "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."
Pugh's attorney, Steven Silverman, issued a statement on the seizure of documents from his downtown office.
"We will continue to vigorously defend the mayor, who is entitled the presumption of innocence," he said.
Also Thursday, the medical system confirmed federal prosecutors had sent it a subpoena.
"The University of Maryland Medical System has received a grand jury witness subpoena today from the U.S. attorney's office for the district of Maryland seeking documents and information from UMMS in order to conduct their investigation of Mayor Pugh. We are fully cooperating with the investigative process," said Michael Schwartzberg, a spokesman for the hospital network, in an email.
Agents were at the location of the Maryland Center for Adult Training. Pugh once led the nonprofit job training program and it has listed online as board members three Pugh staffers _ Gary Brown Jr., Poetri Deal and Afra Vance-White. Those three staffers were fired this week by acting Mayor Bernard C. "Jack" Young.
Fitz said they were executing warrants at Pugh's former home in Ashburton, which she still owns, as well Brown's home.
Pugh did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Silverman said in a statement that federal agents served a "limited subpoena" at the law firm of Silverman Thompson Slutkin & White "for original financial records belonging to Mayor Catherine Pugh."
He said the firm had the documents as part of its representation of Pugh during the investigation of her self-published "Healthy Holly" children's books, which the mayor sold to companies with business before the city and to the University of Maryland Medical System.
"The agents also did not seek or obtain any attorney-client privileged communications with the mayor, or any other information or documents from the firm or its clients," Silverman said.
Two sources told The Baltimore Sun that the investigation that led to Thursday's raids began more than a year ago.
Democratic City Councilmen Zeke Cohen, Eric Costello and Brandon Scott reiterated their call Thursday for Pugh to resign. The entire City Council as well as Baltimore lawmakers in the House of Delegates and the pro-business Greater Baltimore Committee are also seeking her resignation.
"Mayor Pugh should resign immediately. Baltimore needs to move forward and heal from this embarrassment. Baltimore is a great and resilient city, but we can't waste anymore time on this issue," Scott said in a statement. "There are many important issues in front of us that require the complete attention of a full-time mayor."
Costello said the situation with Pugh "has gone on far too long. It is entirely unfair to the citizens of Baltimore. It has been nothing more than an unnecessary distraction from the important work that we have in front of us."
Cohen also referred to the "distraction" created by the investigation.
"This is too much for our city," Cohen said. "It puts all of us under a tremendous strain, and again it is not fair either to the people that live here, or the people that work here."
When Young, a Democrat, arrived Thursday morning at City Hall, he declined to comment. Lester Davis, a spokesman for Young, said Thursday morning that Young didn't know about the searches in advance. He also said Young did not know if the three aides were under investigation.
As Young left City Hall at midmorning, he said briefly: "The city is moving forward. I'm not ducking anybody. I'm just letting you know I was unaware and all I'm doing is keeping the city moving forward."
City Solicitor Andre Davis said he also did not know about the searches beforehand.
A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Pugh, 69, is under investigation by the Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor for sales of the "Healthy Holly" books. Thursday's raid marked the first time it was publicly known that federal law enforcement, as well, was investigating Pugh.
Citing health reasons, Pugh announced April 1 she was taking a leave of absence amid the growing scandal over the book sales. The Sun reported last month that Pugh was paid $500,000 by the medical system for 100,000 of the books to distribute to schoolchildren, as part of a no-bid arrangement.
Health provider Kaiser Permanente later acknowledged that it paid Pugh more than $100,000 to buy about 20,000 copies of her books during a period when the company was seeking a lucrative contract to provide health insurance to city employees. Others with business before the city, including Columbia businessman J.P. Grant, also wrote checks for the book.
In all, Pugh's Healthy Holly LLC took in at least $800,000 from local entities since 2011, The Sun has reported.
The city solicitor said the search at City Hall was in the mayor's office on the second floor.
Shortly before 11 a.m., FBI and IRS agents carrying cardboard boxes left City Hall. They loaded the boxes into about a half a dozen vehicles and left without commenting.
Andre Davis told reporters the searches were complete. He said he received an inventory of what agents seized, but doesn't intend to release it publicly for now because that could harm the investigation. He said a search warrant affidavit, which would lay out the reason for the City Hall search, is under seal.
Pugh bought her current home in the 3400 block of Ellamont Road for $117,500 just days after being sworn in as mayor in December 2016. Property records showed she purchased it without using a mortgage. She began renovating it in early 2017, but has repeatedly run afoul of city housing regulations regarding permits, historic preservation and fire codes.
Before her move, Pugh lived nearby on Dennlyn Road, where she bought a home in 1998.
As federal agents raided her houses, carrying out boxes labeled with titles in the "Healthy Holly" series, neighbors gathered on the sidewalk with reporters and photographers. Devin Lewis, 32, said he last saw Pugh about two weeks ago outside the Ellamont house.
"It's more a shock than anything else," Lewis said.
At the job training center, agents loaded boxes of evidence into SUVs after spending several hours inside. A handwritten sign on door to the building said, "MCAT CLOSED TODAY." Dressed in purple scrub pants and black tops, more than a dozen students in the center's certified nursing assistant, geriatric nursing assistant and medical technician programs were surprised by the closure.
Keith Timmons, Pugh's former campaign treasurer, said law enforcement officials searched his office on Light Street "looking for Healthy Holly material." Timmons said in a phone interview that he didn't know what agency the officials were from.
Timmons signed the incorporation papers creating Pugh's Healthy Holly LLC. And the office address listed for him in Healthy Holly LLC's state business records appears in some editions of the Healthy Holly books.
Timmons has been Young's campaign treasurer since 2005, according to state records.
At Brown's address at the Cecil apartments on Eutaw Street, two supervisors overseeing construction work confirmed multiple FBI agents raided an apartment in the building. The supervisors, who declined give their names, said three men wearing FBI jackets and one man in a suit showed up with warrants about 7:30 a.m. Thursday. They declined to say whose apartment was raided, but the building is the listed address of Brown.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Baltimore issued a strongly worded statement Thursday that nonetheless stopped short of calling for Pugh's resignation.
"I urge Mayor Pugh to put the best interests of the city and its residents first and foremost," he said. "Baltimore needs and deserves leadership that is above reproach and which can lead the city forward in ways that engender the trust and confidence of all essential stakeholders. No one questions Mayor Pugh's passion for Baltimore city and its citizens. At the same time, the circumstances now require that she also provide an example of accountability for those same people. We all want her health to be restored and to now focus on these very grave matters that have everything to do with her personal business endeavors and nothing to do with the priorities of the city of Baltimore."
Pugh's attorney has said she has remained on paid leave because she is still recovering from a case of pneumonia. Young is filling in as acting mayor. Three other Pugh aides remain on paid leave, including her chief of staff.
Thursday was not the first time a Baltimore mayor's house has been raided by investigators. In 2008, state prosecutors and police searched the home of then-Mayor Sheila Dixon. The Democrat became the first Baltimore mayor to face criminal charges, was convicted and resigned.
Federal investigators have searched other big City Halls in recent years, including Los Angeles in 2018 and Philadelphia in 2016. In those corruption cases, they were seeking materials from the offices of City Council members.
