http://wjz.com/local/city.hall.computer.2.904202.htmlBALTIMORE (WJZ/AP) ― Mayor Sheila Dixon was indicted Friday on charges that she accepted illegal gifts during her time as mayor and City Council president, including travel, fur coats and gift cards that she allegedly used for a holiday shopping spree.
Mike Hellgren reports a grand jury indicted Dixon on 12 counts, including four counts of perjury and two counts of theft over $500. She was also charged with theft under $500, fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary and misconduct in office.
The State Prosecutor's Office, which has been investigating corruption at City Hall for nearly three years, said Dixon received holiday gift cards for four years from several people. Prosecutors said the gift cards were to be distributed to needy families, but were instead used by Dixon to buy herself electronics, clothes and other merchandise and also handed out to members of her staff.
Dixon released a statement about the charges.
"There is something I want to tell the citizens of this great city about the charges that the State Prosecutor has brought against me today.
For the past two years, I have done my best to serve the City of Baltimore as Mayor, and I will continue to do so. I will not let these charges deter me from keeping Baltimore on the path that we have set, or from carrying forward the significant progress we have made thus far.
I am being unfairly accused. Time will prove that I have done nothing wrong, and I am confident that I will be found innocent of these charges. But, for the moment, I cannot comment further on the allegations that have been made against me. Instead, my attorneys will address these matters on my behalf.
I want to make it clear, though, that I will continue to put all of my energies into running the City of Baltimore during these perilous economic times. And with God's grace, I am confident that the city, my family and I will weather this storm."
Meanwhile, an attorney for Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon says she "has been the state prosecutor's singular, personal obsession for the past four years."
Attorney Arnold Weiner mounted a detailed, angry verbal attack against Republican State Prosecutor Robert Rohrbaugh.
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Read the last sentence in the snip ............
..... motherfucker.