Baltimore mayor’s home raided again

Investigators raided the home of a prominent Maryland black Democrat for the second time in three weeks Tuesday.

State prosecutors searched Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon’s house for several hours in the morning, apparently continuing a two-year probe of her financial dealings as City Council president.

The investigators removed documents from Mrs. Dixon’s Southwest Baltimore home, but would not confirm the focus of the investigation.

Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, expanded their investigation into state Sen. Ulysses Currie this week, requesting records from the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, both of which own land near a mall in Baltimore that houses a new grocery store for which the powerful senator had consulted.

Mrs. Dixon’s spokesman did not return calls for comment, though her attorney criticized state investigators Tuesday.

“The public should be aware of the State Prosecutor’s reports for the last couple of years, which disclose that the State Prosecutor has spent hundreds of thousands on investigations which went nowhere,” said Dale P. Kelberman, a white-collar criminal defense attorney representing Mrs. Dixon.

“This investigation is another example of those,” said Mr. Kelberman, who also represents Mr. Currie.

State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh, whose office conducts public corruption investigations, would neither confirm nor deny the existence of any investigation into the mayor.

Agents from the state prosecutor’s office arrived at Mrs. Dixon’s home at 6:30 Tuesday morning and left at 1:40 in the afternoon with six boxes of documents and a large cooler on wheels.

Mrs. Dixon’s colleagues on the City Council supported her yesterday.

“This has been ongoing and Sheila Dixon will continue to serve the citizens of Baltimore,” said council member Robert Curran, District 3 Democrat and a relative of fellow Democrat Gov. Martin O’Malley by marriage. “I’m very much supportive of her and continue to be.”

Mrs. Dixon leads one of the state’s most powerful jurisdictions and enjoyed broad support from Mr. O’Malley in her successful run for mayor last year. She has supported many of Mr. O’Malley’s initiatives, including lobbying last year for a plan to place a slots parlor in downtown Baltimore.

But Mrs. Dixon’s term in office has been clouded by ongoing investigations into city contracts given to minority contractors.

Prosecutors won a conviction of Mrs. Dixon’s former campaign chairman, Dale Clark, in September for failing to file income tax returns. He agreed to cooperate with authorities in the investigation.

The state raided the offices of Doracon Contracting Inc. in Baltimore in November. The company is run by Ronald H. Limpscomb, a close confidant of Mrs. Dixon and a well-known Democratic donor. Investigators seized computers and financial data as part of a City Hall corruption probe.

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