Delegate Rick Impallaria Faces Criminal Charges

State Prosecutor Questions $92,800 for “district office” rental payments

State Del. Rick Impallaria has been charged with multiple counts of theft and misconduct in office. The charges allege that Impallaria misused state funds involving a personal cottage and a district office in Essex.[i]  The Republican lawmaker represents parts of Baltimore and Harford counties.

The Baltimore Sun reported that when reached by phone, Impallaria said, “I have no comment,” and hung up.[ii]

The charges were filed Wednesday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court by the Office of the State Prosecutor, which handles cases of public corruption. [iii] According to the OSP press release: “The charges 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.”  For more, see the OSP charging document: [iv]  

Impallaria has had a contentious history with members of his own party. In 2019 the Maryland Republican Party Convention passed a resolution calling on Impallaria to resign, following a controversy over a campaign robocall, a history of traffic violations and a lawsuit against party officials.[v] That resolution came on the heels of an aide to Impallaria being fined $1,000 for not including a campaign authority line on a robocall that attacked fellow Republican Del. Kathy Szeliga.[vi], [vii]

Also, in 2019 a Baltimore County court dismissed an Impallaria defamation lawsuit against four county Republican Party officials. [viii]

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[i] https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-impallaria-charges-20220727-a7mpubh7gbgc7bveiczzczaxj4-story.html

[ii] https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-impallaria-charges-20220727-a7mpubh7gbgc7bveiczzczaxj4-story.html

[iii] https://osp.maryland.gov/2022/07/27/july-27-2022-delegate-richard-impallaria-charged-with-felony-theft-and-related-crimes-for-schemes-related-to-misuse-of-state-funds/

[iv] https://osp.maryland.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/07/Impallaria-CI.pdf

[v] https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-impallaria-gop-20190520-story.html

[vi] https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-walch-sentence-20190430-story.html

[vii] https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-transgender-robocall-20190110-story.html

[viii] https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-impallaria-lawsuit-dismissed-20190801-hg2stfheuba35nkedyphzyyabq-story.html

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[i] https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-impallaria-charges-20220727-a7mpubh7gbgc7bveiczzczaxj4-story.html

[ii] https://osp.maryland.gov/2022/07/27/july-27-2022-delegate-richard-impallaria-charged-with-felony-theft-and-related-crimes-for-schemes-related-to-misuse-of-state-funds/

[iii] https://osp.maryland.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/07/Impallaria-CI.pdf

[iv] https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-impallaria-gop-20190520-story.html

[v] https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-walch-sentence-20190430-story.html

[vi] https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-transgender-robocall-20190110-story.html

[vii] A Baltimore County judge dismissed Thursday a state delegate’s defamation lawsuit against four county Republican Party officials.