Prosecutors Charge D.C. Council Member With Theft, Tax Charges

Updated 3:15 p.m.

D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. was charged today in federal district court with stealing more than $353,000 in taxpayer money and filing false tax returns.

Thomas is not expected to challenge the two charges, lodged in a criminal information filed this afternoon in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Thomas is due in court Friday at 11:15 for a plea hearing. U.S. District Judge John Bates will preside.

Prosecutors said in the two-count information (PDF) that Thomas stole for personal use $353,500 in District funds between April 2007 and February 2009. He is also accused of failing to report $346,000 in income in that same period.

Prosecutors said in a forfeiture allegation in charging documents that Thomas must give up a 2008 Victory motorcycle and a 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe. The Washington Post reported that the sport-utility vehicle and the motorcycle were seized in a law enforcement raid in December.

An attorney for Thomas, Venable partner Seth Rosenthal, was not immediately reached for comment this afternoon. Frederick Cooke Jr. of Washington’s Rubin, Winston, Diercks, Harris & Cooke, who also represents Thomas, was not reached for comment.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Haray of the U.S. Attorney Office's fraud and public corruption section and Peter Mason, a Justice Department trial attorney in the public integrity section, signed the charging document. The Justice Department did not immediately comment on the case.

Thomas, a Democrat, represents the District's Ward 5. He was elected in November 2006.

Comments

[Mark Kantor]

You wrote "Thomas agreed to give up a 2008 Victory motorcycle and a 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe as part of a forfeiture allegation in the charging documents."

This statement is not yet correct.

A Criminal Information only details charges alleged by the prosecutor. It does not constitute an order by the court or an agreement by the defendant. The Information here does not assert that Thomas has agreed to these charges or claimed forfeitures (see Information, Forfeiture allegations, Paras 2-3 at p.3). While it is quite likely Thomas will indeed end up forfeiting this property in a forthcoming plea bargain, that has not yet occurred.

MK