Thursday, February 27, the former mayor of Baltimore (Maryland) Catherine Pugh was sentenced to three years imprisonment for «shadow» scheme of sales of children’s books, which she used to send money to his political campaign.
Catherine Pugh, whose long political career ended when she resigned amid the investigation of sales of books, was also ordered to pay more than $400 thousand in restitution and serve three years of supervised release after completing her prison sentence.
69-year-old Democrat, who was elected mayor in 2016, begged for mercy and apologized to everyone whom she «offended or hurt by their actions», reports the Baltimore Sun.
«No one is saddened more than me, she said. – I ordered a lot of things that should not have been».
The district judge Deborah Khasanov, it seems, was not moved by the apology of the former mayor.
«It was not a tiny mistake. It was a great fraud. I believe that the nature and circumstances of the crime is extremely serious,» — said Hasanov.
Pugh pleaded guilty to Federal conspiracy and tax evasion last November, after the investigation of sales of its children’s books «Heather Holly».
The ex-mayor was deal with a number of organizations, including the University of Maryland Medical System where she was a member of the Board of Directors, — about the purchase of more than 130 000 copies of books and distributing them among the students of the Baltimore city public schools.
According to prosecutors, Drinking earned more than $850 thousand and used the money to make «donations» for his campaign and to buy a new home.
