A developer scheduled to go to trial Monday on charges of bribing a city councilwoman instead pleaded guilty to a lesser violation and agreed to cooperate with the state prosecutor's case against Mayor Sheila Dixon.
Ronald H. Lipscomb acknowledged violating campaign finance laws, and prosecutors dropped charges that he paid for a poll for City Councilwoman Helen L. Holton in exchange for her help in securing tax credits for an Inner Harbor East project that he partially owns.
State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh said that as part of the plea agreement, Lipscomb will cooperate in his continuing City Hall corruption investigation, including any grand jury proceedings.
Rohrbaugh refused Monday to discuss how Lipscomb's plea will affect the case against Dixon, who is scheduled to go to trial in September. In January, a city grand jury charged her with 12 theft and perjury charges related to gifts she received from Lipscomb, although seven perjury offenses were dismissed last month.
The prosecutor could ask a grand jury to re-indict the mayor on those or other offenses.
In dropping the bribery charges against Lipscomb, prosecutors revealed in Baltimore Circuit Court that he was not the only developer to finance the $12,500 poll for Holton. John Paterakis, the head of H&S bakery and the developer who "owns or controls" almost all of the Inner Harbor East complex, according to the court papers, contributed $6,000, or almost half of the pollster's fee.
State laws prohibit individuals from contributing more than $4,000 per candidate per election cycle. It is the first time Paterakis' name has been raised in the corruption case; he has not been charged with any wrongdoing. Neither Paterakis nor his lawyer, Charles P. Scheeler, returned calls for comment.
Papers filed with the court show that Lipscomb paid $3 million to obtain a 2.9 percent stake in a limited liability corporation that Paterakis owns and that controls a "substantial" amount of Inner Harbor East.
Lipscomb declined to talk with reporters after the court proceeding. His attorney, Gerard P. Martin, said the plea deal allows Lipscomb "some peace."
"If you'd been subjected to what he's been subjected to for the last five years you'd be glad about this day, too," Martin said.
Dixon's attorneys downplayed the importance of Lipscomb's plea. "Mr. Lipscomb has been interviewed repeatedly by both federal and state officials over the last five years," said Arnold M. Weiner, one of her defense lawyers. "If he's ever called as a witness and he testifies truthfully he is of no concern."
