Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh sentenced to 3 years for ‘Healthy Holly’ children’s book fraud scheme

By LUKE BROADWATER and JUSTIN FENTON

BALTIMORE SUN |

FEB 27, 2020 | 12:54 PM

Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who held elected offices in Baltimore for two decades and was elevated by voters to lead the city following the upheaval of 2015, 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. …

… 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. …

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-pugh-sentenced-20200227-7yffn67n2nhfbmzhjdo4pzomku-story.html