On Thursday, a federal grand jury indicted Baltimore's top prosecutor on perjury charges and using false mortgage applications to purchase two Florida vacation homes.
Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby faces a four-count indictment that alleges she lied about meeting qualifications for coronavirus-related distributions from a city retirement plan in 2020.
Prosecutors also allege the prosecutor lied on 2020 application forms for mortgages to purchase two Florida homes in Kissimmee and Long Boat Key.
The official indictment is for two counts of perjury and two mortgage-related charges.
Mosby was elected in 2014, and soared to national prominence by bringing charges in the police custody-related death of Freddie Gray. She was reelected in 2018 and is currently up for reelection this year.
Mosby has faced controversy during her time as Baltimore's prosecutor for her policies on crime, which included keeping low-level offenders out of prison.
Despite the controversy, Mosby was praised by Vice President Kamala Harris for her political role as a progressive Democrat in 2017. At the time, Harris was still a U.S. Senator. "When we march, and we shout about what we need to do to reform the criminal justice system, we better understand that we gotta march and shout with our paychecks - and all of the work that we can do to actually make sure that somebody like Marilyn Mosby gets reelected into that office, to not only get convictions but have convictions," Harris said of Mosby at the time.
Supporters have said she is being targeted for her progressive policies, and civil rights attorney Ben Crump called for an end to the investigation.
According to the indictment, in 2020, Mosby submitted requests for one-time withdrawals of $40,000 and $50,000, respectively, from Baltimore's deferred compensation plans.
Mosby falsely certified that she experienced adverse financial hardships because of the coronavirus while receiving her nearly $250,000 salary in 2020.
According to the indictment, Mosby made false statements for personal benefit in applications for mortgages on a $490,500 home in Kissimmee, Florida, and a $428,400 for a condominium in Long Boat Key Florida.
Mosby was required to disclose liabilities but didn't disclose that she had unpaid federal taxes from several previous years. In March 2020, the Internal Revenue Service placed a lien against all property and rights to property belonging to the Mosbys in the amount of $45,022. The amount of the lien is what Mosby and her husband owed the IRS.
A week before closing on the Kissimmee home, Mosby contracted a vacation home management company to oversee the use and management of the house, according to the indictment.
She later signed a "second home rider," stating that she and her husband occupy and use the property as their second home. It also states that the couple maintains exclusive control over the property ownership, the indictment said. The indictment alleges that falsely executing the rider allowed Mosby to lower the mortgage's interest rate.
Mosby was using the 4,000-square-foot Kissimmee property as a rental property. In November of 2021, she sold it for a $150,000 profit.
Mosby's initial appearance in court has not been scheduled yet, according to a news release from the US Attorney's Office.
