TOWSON, Md — A Harford County Councilman was convicted Thursday of felony theft.
According to court documents, Dion F. Guthrie stole thousands of dollars from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers between October 2017 and September of 2021.
The charges were brought in Baltimore County.
Guthrie entered an Alford Plea, allowing him to avoid admitting to the crimes, while also agreeing enough evidence existed to convict.
The 86-year-old Councilman has been sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation.
The attorney for the County Council, Meaghan Alegi, said in a statement that the no-contest plea to a felony count triggers his removal from office, according to the State Constitution.
"[H]is Harford County Council seat is deemed vacant as of today," Alegi says.
Guthrie sat on the Council representing District A since 2002.
Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler had called for Guthrie's resignation prior to Alegi's statement.
"In the weeks since these charges came to light, Mr. Guthrie has egregiously claimed that these charges were nothing more than politics and that since this purported theft occurred in Baltimore County, it has no bearing on his service here in Harford County. Both claims are complete nonsense," Gahler said in a statement. "As Sheriff and as an elected official in our County, I am calling on Councilman Guthrie to immediately resign his elected office as a member of the Harford County Council."
Alegi also added what comes next, based on the Harford County Charter, "Within 60 calendar days of the vacancy, a majority of the remaining Council Members must appoint an individual to fill the vacancy from a list of at least 3 names submitted from the Democratic Central Committee."
