Whipped Cream Difficulties

Remember Catherine Pugh, the former mayor of Baltimore? The “Healthy Holly” scandal?

She’s just been indicted on 11 counts of “fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy”.

In a grand jury indictment made public Wednesday, prosecutors allege Pugh defrauded area businesses and nonprofit organizations with nearly $800,000 in sales of her “Healthy Holly” books to unlawfully enrich herself, promote her political career and illegally fund her campaign for mayor.
Though her customers ordered more than 100,000 copies of the books, the indictment says Pugh failed to print thousands of copies, double-sold others and took some to use for self-promotion. Pugh, 69, used the profits to buy a house, pay down debt, and make illegal straw donations to her campaign, prosecutors allege.

I don’t have a lot of time to dwell on this at the moment (I’ll be leaving work in about 15 minutes and hoping I don’t have to deal with the presidental motorcade) but I may update later this evening or tomorrow.

(Hattip to Mike the Musicologist. Apparently, there are several web sites reporting she’s been convicted, but the Sun’s coverage is just reporting an indictment.)

Hempstead, Texas, is perhaps best described as a suburb of Houston. (Technically, it is in Waller Caunty, while Houston is Harris County. Apple Maps says it is roughly an hour’s drive from Houston to Hempstead.)

Hempstead isn’t a big city: just under 6,000 people. Mike the Musicologist, who tipped me off to this, tells me that Mayor Michael Wolfe has been in that post for 15 years.

Now, being mayor of any decent sized city is probably a full time job, and being mayor of a 6,000 person city probably doesn’t pay very well. This is significant for reasons I’ll get into shortly.

Back a few months ago, the Texas Rangers started looking into “financial irregularities” discovered “during an audit of the city budget”. They turned up something interesting. You see, folks in Hempstead had until the 20th of each month to pay their utility bills, or else they’d get cut off. One of the city employees was responsible for generating a list of folks who hadn’t paid up. But that employee would then take the list over to the mayor, who’d mark off certain accounts on the list as being exempt from utility cutoffs.

Among those names: the mayor. And his daughter. Apparently, they were over $20,000 behind in their utility payments. Mayor Wolfe’s personal account was over $10,000 behind.

Okay, so this is sleazy. The good citizens of Hempstead who were paying their bills had to absorb the delinquency of the mayor and his daughter. No question about it, this is bad behavior. But is it a crime?

Yes!

The Mayor of Hempstead has been arrested on a state jail felony charge of abuse of official capacity, the Waller County District Attorney’s Office says.

…

According to an affidavit, Shayne is believed to have “intentionally or knowingly misused government property, services, personnel, or any other thing of value belonging to the government that has come into the public servant’s custody or possession by virtue of the public servant’s office or employment”.
The document cites Texas Penal Code 39.02(a), Abuse of Official Capacity.

Texas Penal Code 39.02(a), Abuse of Official Capacity, for your reference and because I don’t trust nested links.

I kind of like “Abuse of Official Capacity”. It has a ring to it, though it doesn’t quite stir the soul in the same way “barratry” or “misprision” does.

And, once again, someone throws away their life and becomes a convicted felon over a relatively small amount of money. Seriously, dude, pay the darn bill. (Yes, yes, presumption of innocence, but according to the report, he’s pretty much confessed to the crime already, and is using the ‘nobody would have known about it if it wasn’t for those meddling auditors” defense.)

By way of Lawrence:

Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to defrauding a local youth basketball program of more than $87,000 instead using the money to purchase luxury clothing, expensive meals, and personal trips.

The Press is kind of obnoxious,but local. More from nj.com:

Gilliam, 49, defrauded a basketball club of more than $87,000, prosecutors said, spending that money on luxury designer clothing, expensive meals, and personal trips to various locations. More than $41,000 was recovered when his house was raided in December 2018.

Mayor Gilliam pled out to one count of wire fraud, and has agreed to pay restitution.

{Harry] Rimm [the mayor’s defense attorney – DB] said Gilliam has already started paying back the money, making a voluntary payment Thursday in connection with his plea.
“To date, and in advance of sentencing, Mr. Gilliam has paid back almost half of the restitution amount that the parties have agreed is owed,” said the attorney.

Now I’m wondering: does that “almost half the restitution amount” include the “recovered” $41,000?

Guess the party watch: paragraph nine of the NJ.com story. Criminal Mayors Against Law-Abiding Gun Owners Watch: status of Mayor Gilliam unknown. I need to dig deeper into that.

But:

Even before the FBI raid on his house, Gilliam found himself in an unwelcome spotlight. The mayor was accused of simple assault and harassment stemming from a 2:30 a.m. brawl outside the Golden Nugget Casino’s Haven nightclub last year.
He was cleared of criminal charges in March by a municipal court judge in nearby North Wildwood, where the case had been transferred to avoid a conflict of interest.

Gilliam, who was released on $100,000 unsecured bond, could face 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on Jan. 7.

But we all know he’s probably not going to get that, right?

And as far as I can tell, he hasn’t resigned as mayor. Yet.

In a statement following the plea, defense attorney Harry Rimm said the charge to which he pleaded guilty related only to his conduct as a private citizen, and not conduct in his official capacity as mayor.
“He is not charged with taking any public or taxpayer funds,” the attorney said, adding that the mayor “is accepting responsibility for his actions and is genuinely remorseful.”

Edited to add: he’s out now.