Rohrbaugh

The Maryland prosecutor whose City Hall corruption investigation led to the ouster of former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon said Monday that his office's proposed $1.2 million budget is "paltry" and prevents him from fully vetting allegations of fraud. "It is difficult to understand why the state is reluctant to spend relatively little to attempt to assure the budgeted money is being used as intended," State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh said in written testimony to a legislative committee reviewing his agency's spending.

Gov. Robert. L Ehrlich Jr. appointed yesterday a former federal prosecutor from Montgomery County with Republican Party ties to serve as Maryland's state prosecutor. Robert A. Rohrbaugh, 57, will head an office charged with the politically sensitive task of investigating allegations of misconduct by public officials and employees, including violations of state election and ethics laws. An assistant U.S. attorney from 1974 to 1980, Rohrbaugh succeeds Stephen Montanarelli, who died in May. Rohrbaugh said he's looking forward to his new job, which pays $119,600 a year.

Frances E. Rohrbaugh, 80, laboratory administrator Frances E. Rohrbaugh, a longtime medical technologist and laboratory administrator, died Tuesday of heart and kidney failure at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson. She was 80. Born in Galena, Kan., Ms. Rohrbaugh graduated as valedictorian of Galena High School in 1937 and then attended Kansas State Teachers College, intending to go to medical school. Although she was accepted at several medical schools, Ms. Rohrbaugh suspended her dream of becoming a doctor for financial reasons.

The Office of the State Prosecutor opened its doors in 1977 with a mandate to investigate allegations of misconduct by public officials and employees, including violations of state election and ethics laws. State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh was appointed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. in August 2004. Rohrbaugh can initiate his own investigations, as he did with the Sheila Dixon query, or investigate at the request of the governor, attorney general, General Assembly, State Ethics Commission or a state's attorney.

When Troy Rohrbaugh was a freshman at the Johns Hopkins University, he asked the same question he is being asked now: Why are all the shoes in the tree?"

Three subpoenas for witnesses in the criminal case against Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon were withdrawn Thursday after her attorneys objected to the legal move by the state prosecutor. The prosecutor, Robert A. Rohrbaugh, attempted to call two current municipal employees and one former employee to testify before a grand jury. "The state prosecutor had no choice but to drop the subpoenas once their presence was known and we moved to have them quashed," Dixon's attorney, Arnold Weiner, said Thursday.

When Troy Rohrbaugh was a freshman at Johns Hopkins University, he asked the same question he is being asked now: Why are all the shoes in the tree?"And this is what I was told," said Mr. Rohrbaugh, now a senior, . . . Fraternity brothers were always forgetting things, and they'd yell to their roommates to throw them stuff out the window. One time somebody threw down a pair of shoes and it got wrapped around a limb."From then on, any time you wore out a pair of shoes, or your roommate had really smelly feet with a tendency to leave his shoes laying around, they'd end up on the tree."

Charles H. Bowers, 76, died Friday at Carroll County General Hospital. A retired carpenter, he was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II. Surviving are nephews, John Moser of Reisterstown and Harry Moser of Finksburg, and a niece, Catherine Miller of Owings Mills.DATELINE: Mount AiryRosemary Fiore, 69, died Friday at Frederick Memorial Hospital. She was the wife of Michael J. Fiore. A member of St. Peter's CatholicChurch in Libertytown, she also was a member of the auxiliary of theDisabled American Veterans.

Maryland State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh claims that he has no hobbies, and that he's just not that interesting. He says he spends long days at his Towson office and then heads home to spend time with his family in Montgomery County. But the man with the simple lifestyle is the same one who ordered a raid last week on the home of Mayor Sheila Dixon. As television cameras rolled, Rohrbaugh's staff carted off file folders and boxes full of unknown contents.

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon may have felt victorious Thursday when several of the criminal charges she faces were tossed out by Circuit Judge Dennis M. Sweeney. The ruling may reduce her legal exposure, but she is by no means vindicated. Beyond the legal technicalities and political spin, here's what Baltimore citizens should remember: Ms. Dixon is accused of accepting thousands of dollars in gifts and travel from a developer whose projects received millions in city tax breaks - gifts that she failed to report on her ethics forms.