The forty eighth Mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, Sheila Dixon has been indicted on 12 counts including perjury and theft. The Democrat served the City Council from 1988 to 2007 including 7 years as City Council President. In 2007, Sheila Dixon became the City Mayor after fellow Democrat Martin O’Malley vacated the position to become Maryland Governor.

Some of the charges faced by Sheila Dixon are as follows:

• Improper disclosure of gifts received from various sources.
• Misuse of Holiday Gift Cards that were supposed to be distributed to needy families.
• Misconduct in office.

Sheila Dixon has said in a statement on Friday that she is innocent. She said “I am confident that I will be found innocent of these charges. I will not let these charges deter me from keeping Baltimore on the path that we have set, or from carrying forward the significant progress we have made thus far”.

These developments come at a time when the city of Baltimore was witnessing a very positive turnaround of events. The murder rate in the city has fallen 17% as compared to last year. Moreover, the schools have shown better results lately and also the population has shown a slight increase.