UPDATE: Delegate Impallaria has pleaded guilty to the charges.

Original story below…

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BALTIMORE, MD—Maryland State Prosecutor Charlton T. Howard, III this week announced that criminal charges have been filed in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, charging Richard K. Impallaria, Maryland State Delegate representing District 7, with multiple counts of misconduct in office, theft, and embezzlement.

The charging documents allege that Del. Impallaria facilitated rental payments from the General Assembly to his personal landlord using state funds for a “district office” that was actually a building outside of his district. The building in question, which was used to store Del. Impallaria’s personal items, was located next door to Del. Impallaria’s personal cottage and shared the same owners. The General Assembly paid, on average, double the amount of rent for Impallaria’s “district office” than any other tenant in the community.

The same month the General Assembly began paying rent on Del. Impallaria’s “district office,” and after ten years of monthly rent payments, Del. Impallaria stopped paying rent on his neighboring personal cottage, which he maintained. Between July 2012 through and including May 31, 2022, the State of Maryland paid $92,800 in rent for the “district office,” which was located outside of Del. Impallaria’s district. During that same time period, Del. Impallaria paid $0.00 in rent for his neighboring cottage that shared the same landlords.

The charges further allege that Del. Impallaria facilitated the creation of an invoice with an office supply vendor that reflected the purchase of office furniture which was never actually ordered. Del. Impallaria paid the full amount of the invoice, which created a credit of $2,405.30 with the vendor for the items that were not ordered. Del. Impallaria then sought and received reimbursement from the Maryland General Assembly using public funds for those items neither ordered nor received. Del. Impallaria subsequently used the $2,405.30 credit to pay for the production of fundraising letters on behalf of his campaign entity, Friends of Rick Impallaria.

“Elected officials are expected to be good stewards of the State’s resources” stated State Prosecutor Howard. “Any official who abuses the public trust for personal gain must be held accountable.”

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