Questions remain about whether a plea agreement to settle a felony theft charge filed against Harford County Council member Dion Guthrie (D) will allow him to retain his elected office. File photo by Bryan P. Sears.
The current term of a Harford County Council member could be cut short as the result of a plea deal to resolve a felony theft charge.
Dion Guthrie (D) is expected to enter a plea as soon as next week. He is accused of stealing more than $23,000 from the union he ran for more than five decades, according to new information released by the Baltimore County state’s attorney’s office.
Both the Maryland Constitution and the Harford County Charter contain provisions for removing an elected official following a criminal conviction. Whether or not that happens in Guthrie’s case appears to be an unsettled question.
Guthrie, 86, did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday, but he said in an interview Tuesday night that his plea deal would not affect his ability to remain in office. Other Harford County officials — all of whom declined to speak about Guthrie’s case specifically — acknowledged the legal provisions for removal, but said research and consultation would be needed following any individual case.
Harford County Council President Patrick S. Vincenti (R). File photo Bryan P. Sears.
Harford County Council President Patrick Vincenti declined to comment on Guthrie’s case other than to say the reports were troubling. He said an additional review is needed and referred questions to an attorney representing the council.
Meaghan Alegi, attorney for the council, also declined to speak about the specifics of Guthrie’s case and plea deal. She said more consultation and research is needed to determine when the county charter provision is triggered.
“There could also be sections of the Maryland Constitution that apply,” she said.
The Maryland Constitution calls for the immediate removal of a state, county or municipal elected official upon a final conviction — which includes exhausting available appeals — or a guilty or nolo contendere plea.
In June, then Anne Arundel County Register of Wills Erica Griswold pleaded guilty to misconduct in office related to stealing a $6,645 check given to her office to settle estate taxes. That guilty plea resulted in her immediate removal from office.
Prior to sentencing, Griswold repaid the money and completed the community service portion of her plea agreement with state prosecutors. She received a suspended sentence a month later.
Guthrie was charged Tuesday afternoon in Baltimore County with one count of theft between $1,500 and $25,000 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1501. Guthrie served for 52 years as president of the local that represented workers in the horse and dog racing industry, as well as some employees at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. He was also the union’s business manager.
Between October 2017 and September 2021, Guthrie is accused of stealing more than $23,000 from the union. Prosecutors said Wednesday that more than $15,112 was stolen from the general fund by using a union American Express credit card for personal expenses, and nearly $8,400 was misappropriated from the union’s health and welfare fund “to pay benefits for people not eligible for such as to re-direct monies to his personal credit cards and repair work.”
Guthrie “was removed” from his position in the union and the local was placed in a receivership overseen by the IBEW national. Guthrie “was also interviewed under oath and admitted to violating the union procedures and that he was responsible for the questionable expenses,” county prosecutors said in a statement Wednesday.
The Baltimore County Circuit Courts Building in Towson. Photo by Bryan P. Sears.
But in an interview Tuesday night, Guthrie said he announced his December 2021 retirement six months earlier, and that the national office takeover was driven by declining membership and economic realities hastened by the pandemic. Guthrie said the charges were politically motivated, and claimed the union helped develop the charges against him to get out of paying him money he was owed.
“There’s been an argument over some money they owe me,” he said in a Tuesday phone interview. “They owe me about $39,000 — over $39,000 — in some vacation pay and some other issues, and they were reluctant to give it to me. And we’ve been arguing about that over the years, and so they’ve come up with this.”
Guthrie said Tuesday that he paid back the money after reaching an agreement with county prosecutors. That agreement — which is not binding on a judge — calls for prosecutors to recommend a sentence of probation before judgment.
He said that he decided to enter a plea in the case “because my lawyer recommends it. They said you’re going to be stuck. Because he says they’ll take you to court. You’ll be in court. The legal fees will amount to more than they want.”
He added that a plea — he said he and prosecutors agreed on a sentence of probation before judgment — would not require him to vacate the seat he has held for more than a decade.
“They have no jurisdiction. And this case is, this is all in Baltimore County. It has nothing to do with Harford County,” Guthrie said. “It’s all Baltimore County. It’s offices in Baltimore County. Their office is in Baltimore County. It’s the Baltimore County Department of Labor. So, I mean, that’s what I’m being told by my attorney. You know, what do I know?”