Ex-prosecutor Marilyn Mosby sentenced in scheme using COVID funds to buy Florida condo

The former top prosecutor in Baltimore, convicted of fraud for lying about financial hardship during the pandemic in order to buy a beach house with money from the federal government , will serve no prison time.

Marilyn Mosby, 44, was sentenced to 12 months of house arrest, 100 hours of community service and three years of supervised release Thursday, Erek Barron, United States Attorney for the District of Maryland announced.

The ex-prosecutor was found guilty of multiple felony charges in two separate trials, one that took place this year and one last fall.

During the sentencing hearing in Prince County, U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby sentenced Mosby to home confinement with electric monitoring and also ordered forfeiture of 90% of the property Mosby bought with the fraudulently obtained mortgage.

Mosby garnered national attention in 2015 when she charged six Baltimore police officers in connection to the death of Freddie Gray. A Black man, Gray, 25, died in police custody  a week after he suffered a severe spinal injury while traveling without a seatbelt in the back of a van on the way to the police station.

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Prosecutors had asked for a 20-month sentence

Under the law, Mosby had faced up to 35 years in prison for her fraud and perjury convictions.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean R. Delaney and Aaron S.J. Zelinsky prosecuted the federal cases. Federal court records show they had argued for a 20-month prison sentence.

“The court agrees these are very serious offenses and that this conduct displays a pattern of dishonesty,” The Baltimore Sun reported Griggsby told Mosby in court. “This dishonesty also occurred when you held the highest office for a prosecutor in the City of Baltimore.”

While Mosby’s crimes didn’t have “victims in a traditional sense,” the outlet reported, Griggsby said Mosby "betrayed people who looked up to her in the community."

The judge went on to acknowledged the former head prosecutor's record of public service, the Sun reported, and said Mosby’s two daughters "weighed most heavily" in determining the sentence.

What was Marilyn Mosby convicted of?

In February, Mosby was convicted of making a false mortgage application when she was Baltimore City State’s Attorney, relating to the purchase of a condominium in Long Boat Key, Florida. The jury acquitted Mosby of making a false mortgage application related to her purchase of a home in Kissimmee, Florida.

Several months earlier, in November, a jury found Mosby guilty of two counts of perjury, in connection to the withdrawal of funds from the City of Baltimore’s Deferred Compensation Plan claiming "she suffered adverse financial consequences" during the pandemic while she was the city's prosecutor.

In a statement released by his office, Barron commended the FBI and IRS-CI agents for their work in the investigation and thanked the Baltimore City Office of the Inspector General for its assistance in the case.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.