BALTIMORE _ Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who held elected offices in Baltimore for two decades, was sentenced to three years in federal prison Thursday for a fraud scheme involving a children's book series.
A plea deal struck with prosecutors last fall called for a sentence of between four and five years; prosecutors sought nearly five years, while Pugh's attorneys asked that she receive a year and a day.
Pugh, 69, asked U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow for mercy and apologized in court "to anyone I have offended or hurt through my actions."
"No one is more disappointed than me," Pugh said. "I did turn a blind eye. I did, and sanctioned many things I should not have."
In handing down the prison sentence, which was to be followed by three years of probation, Chasanow called Pugh's crime "astounding."
"I have yet, frankly, to hear any explanation that makes sense," the judge said. "This was not a tiny mistake, lapse of judgment. This became a very large fraud. The nature and circumstances of this offense clearly, I think, are extremely, extremely serious."
Pugh's political fall began in March when The Baltimore Sun revealed she had entered into a no-bid deal with the University of Maryland Medical System, where Pugh sat on the board of directors, to buy 100,000 copies of her sloppily self-published "Healthy Holly" books for $500,000. She later resigned from the board and as mayor amid multiple investigations into her finances and the book sales. In total, she netted more than $850,000, prosecutors say.
At the same time, she failed to print thousands of copies, double-sold thousands more and took many others to use for self-promotion, according to prosecutors.
Chasanow ordered Pugh to pay restitution of $400,000 to the medical system and nearly $12,000 to the Maryland Auto Insurance Fund, which also paid Pugh for books. She also will have to forfeit nearly $670,000, including her Ashburton home and $17,800 in her campaign account.
Pugh arrived about an hour before the hearing began with her attorney and a friend. Prosecutors spoke first, for about an hour, before the judge granted a five-minute break before the defense portion of the hearing.
A hands-on, "married to the job" mayor in the style of fellow Democrat William Donald Schaefer _ whose administration was where Pugh got her start in government in 1975 _ Pugh had more than 70 people write letters to Chasanow on her behalf. They included a slew of prominent pastors, former Democratic Mayor Kurt Schmoke, former Democratic U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume and the president of Morgan State University.
Prosecutors responded Thursday in court, telling Chasanow that "Ms. Pugh did not have a momentary lapse of judgement as many of her supporters have argued to the court in their letters."
Prosecutors emphasized their reasons for why the judge should sentence Pugh at the top end of the guideline. In summarizing the scheme, they argued it was no accident but a long, orchestrated effort.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Martin Clarke, the lead prosecutor on the case, said Pugh "deliberately and cunningly set out to deceive people" and to "rig an election to her advantage and cover it all up," referring to the 2016 mayoral primary.
Prosecutors also criticized a video the defense filed with the court on the eve of the sentencing, in which Pugh gave her most expansive remarks on her fall from grace and apologized. Clarke cited it as a way for Pugh "to continue using her skills to manipulate the message and to try to change the narrative."
The sentencing hearing was held in Courtroom 1A of the federal courthouse in downtown Baltimore, a movie theater-style ceremonial courtroom.
The Sun reported that nearly a third of the University of Maryland Medical System's board members had business with the hospital network, a point defense attorney Steve Silverman raised in court.
"Catherine Pugh was wrong, she should have known better, she was better than this. But she got sucked into the culture of what was going on with the UMMS board _ that everyone had an opportunity to do business," he said.
Silverman said Pugh took responsibility as soon as she could for what she had done. Shortly after the scandal broke, Pugh was hospitalized with pneumonia and Silverman had described her as "not lucid" after she took leave from her duties as mayor.
"She was completely incapacitated," Silverman said. "But as soon as she was able in late April, she made the decision to resign."
Silverman said Pugh's white-collar crime was a "one-off."
"This is not a crime of physical violence, this is not a case that involves firearms, narcotics or danger to the community," he said. "This case did not begin with a malicious intent or design to hurt others."
Pugh's attorneys alluded to a heavy psychological toll on the former mayor, and one of her brothers wrote Chasanow a letter in which he said she "has not eaten or slept properly since these tribulations have unfolded."
"Ms. Pugh has become a tragic figure _ an inspiring person dedicated to helping her community who is now a disgraced, unemployed felon, and who has lost everything that she had," her attorneys wrote in a sentencing memorandum earlier this month.
But prosecutors depicted her actions as not mere transgressions, but a long-running and calculated scheme to defraud, which she repeatedly sought to cover up. The book sales were used to bolster the financial health of Pugh's 2016 mayoral campaign, prosecutors say, and she also laundered a five-figure campaign contribution from a city contractor.
As The Sun began reporting on the book sales, Pugh began publicly telling lies, including how much profit she was earning from the books and who she was selling them to.
"The chronology of events since 2011, comprising Pugh's seven-year scheme to defraud, multiple years of tax evasion, election fraud, and attempted cover-ups, including brazen lies to the public, clearly establishes the deliberateness with which she pursued financial and political gain without a second thought about how it was harming the public's trust," wrote Clarke and assistant U.S. Attorney Leo J. Wise.
"It was not rash behavior," they wrote. "Rather, it was a recurring pattern of well-executed steps that built on each other, becoming more audacious and complex leading up to the mayoral election."
Chasanow said in court she had received victim impact statements from the medical system and the Maryland Auto Insurance Fund.
A Philadelphia native, Pugh stayed in Baltimore after graduating from Morgan State. She later ran for public office, winning a seat on the Baltimore City Council in 1999. She joined the House of Delegates in 2005 and rose to the state Senate two years later, a position she held until becoming mayor in 2016. In the Senate, she served as majority leader for two years.
Along the way, she racked up a number of achievements, including helping to open the Baltimore Design School and establishing the Baltimore Marathon. As mayor, won praise for removing Confederate-era monuments and creating a new Neighborhood Impact Investment Fund, among other initiatives.
In court, Silverman recounted Pugh's accomplishments, saying her life has been "dedicated to the empowerment of the black community and youth" and her aim to "elevate minorities to a level playing field and promote racial harmony."
Also pleading guilty following the Pugh investigation were her longtime aide, Gary Brown Jr., and Roslyn Wedington, director of a nonprofit Pugh championed. In court Thursday, prosecutors described Brown as Pugh's "minion." They have said Pugh had Brown making "Healthy Holly" book deliveries during his working hours as her legislative aide, and he then carried out straw campaign donations using money from the books. When Brown found himself in legal trouble, Pugh connected him with a lawyer and publicly feigned ignorance about the source of the funds, prosecutors said.
Sentencing hearings have not yet been scheduled for Brown and Wedington. No one else has been charged in the case.
Pugh has also been charged in state court with perjury. The Office of the State Prosecutor alleged Pugh broke the law by failing to disclose her Healthy Holly business on financial disclosure forms during her time as a state senator. A trial in that case is scheduled for May 14 in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.
