Harford County Democratic Councilmember Dion F. Guthrie said he will accept a plea deal related to charges that he stole between $1,500 and $25,000 from a union he led for five decades. But he said the charges were the result of a political witch hunt. File photo by Bryan P. Sears.
A Democratic member of the Harford County Council faces felony theft charges in Baltimore County, charges that he claims are politically motivated.
Even so, Council member Dion Guthrie said he has made restitution for the alleged crime and expects to be sentenced to probation before judgment in an as yet-to-be scheduled hearing.
Guthrie, 86, and one of two Democrats on the seven-member council, was charged late Tuesday with one count of theft between $1,500 and $25,000. The theft — an exact amount has not been announced — occurred between 2017 and 2021, when Guthrie was president and business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1501, said Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger.
But Guthrie, in a phone interview Tuesday night, said he was not guilty of theft. The charges were the result of politics, he said, comparing it to the accusations of improper property tax credits leveled against Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D), the scrutiny Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. (D) faces for land deals and a payout to a retired county employee, and the grand jury investigation last year of Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly (R).
“I’m the latest Alsobrooks and Johnny O and Bob Cassilly, you know, all the different things that people can drum up in this political era,” Guthrie said. “I’m just a pawn in all this stuff going on all over the country.”
The council member said he paid back the money Tuesday as the charges were filed — part of an agreement he said will result in a sentence of probation before judgment. He declined to say how much he agreed to pay back. He said he would discuss it publicly after a hearing that could come as soon as next week.
Guthrie said he did not steal from his union — instead, he said he was owed money.
“There’s been an argument over some money they owe me,” he said. “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 he will accept a plea deal to the felony charge. That agreement was hammered out this week by his attorney and Baltimore County prosecutors.
Guthrie said he decided to accept a plea “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.”
“And that’s the world we live in, you know, it’s unfortunate, but it’s the world we live in. We either pay it or, you know, go to court and pay a lot more legal fees,” he said.
When asked which type of plea he would enter, Guthrie said “PBJ.” After it was explained that probation before judgment was a sentence not a plea, Guthrie said he would have to ask his lawyer about the details of the plea.
Despite state law that requires a public official to vacate their seat upon conviction of a felony, Guthrie said his plea will not affect his position on the Harford County Council .
“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 a Baltimore County Department of Labor. So, I mean, that’s what I’m being told by my attorney. You know, what do I know?”
An attempt to reach Harford County Council President Patrick Vincenti (R) was unsuccessful Tuesday evening.
Guthrie held the positions with the union for 52 years until he announced his retirement in June 2021. That was the same year that the union went into receivership, taken over by the national union.
Guthrie said the takeover by national officials was the result of declining membership. The union represented employees of AmTote International, a betting processor operated by a subsidiary of Stronach Group, the former owner and operator of the Preakness Stakes, as well as Pimlico and Bowie Race Tracks. The union also represented some employees at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Guthrie said the union lost members over the years. Those losses were accentuated by the pandemic, which closed tracks and resulted in employee layoffs.
“You know, when the pandemic hit, they closed every single racetrack in the United States,” said Guthrie. “When they did that, that was the icing on the cake for our union, our local. I had 126 members — down from originally 800 — I was down about 126 at the racetracks, but I had 300 or so in NASA.
“We were holding on by the skin or our teeth. But now, when the pandemic hit, it closed every racetrack in the country, and 120 of 126 members got laid off, lost their jobs, and the company refused to pay them their severance pay,” he said. “And I had a big fight over that, and went to arbitration and lost, not because … it was too much money to pay all these people.”