Baltimore state’s attorney indicted on perjury charges

Correction: This story has been corrected to reflect that Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby was indicted for filing false mortgage applications. An earlier version of this story included incorrect information.

A Maryland grand jury on Thursday indicted Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby on two counts of perjury and two counts of filing false mortgage applications.

Mosby faces a hearing at an unscheduled date in the U.S. District Court of Maryland in Baltimore. If convicted on the charges, Mosby faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for each count of filing a false mortgage application and up to five years in prison for each perjury charge.

The perjury charges stem from Mosby’s application for pandemic relief money in May and December of 2020, when the attorney filed for federal relief dollars even though she “had not experienced any of the enumerated financial hardships she claimed to have experienced,” according to court documents. 

Mosby was earning more than $247,000 annually at the time of both filings, but collected more than $9,000 in biweekly installments from the relief money.

The state’s attorney was also indicted for filing false mortgage applications when she purchased two vacation homes in Florida. In January and February of 2021, Mosby bought a $428,000 condo in Long Beach but did not disclose — as is required in mortgage applications — that she owed the IRS more than $45,000.

Mosby was indicted on another count for similar reasons when she purchased a vacation home in Kissimmee, Fla, in July and September of 2020.

Mosby was first elected to the state’s attorney’s office in 2014 and was reelected in 2018. She garnered national attention in 2015 when she charged six officers in connection to the death of Freddie Gray, who died while in Baltimore Police Department custody.

The Baltimore attorney is also under investigation in a separate federal probe into her personal business and tax records, along with her husband Nick Mosby, the city’s council president.

Mosby’s indictment follows that of other high-profile Baltimore politicians and office holders, including former Mayor Catherine Pugh, who in 2019 was indicted on corruption charges.

— Updated at 9:12 p.m.