Outstanding OIG requests raise new questions over Baltimore housing agency scrutiny

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Weeks before six children were found alone in an East Baltimore home, Mayor Brandon Scott says he had already personally directed multiple investigations involving the city housing agency that helped place the family there.

Following the tragic news, FOX45 News started digging a bit more. Court records relating to the ongoing battle between Mayor Scott and the Office of Inspector General show outstanding document requests involving the Department of Housing and Community Development, DHCD. Mayor Scott wouldn’t say whether those requests are related to the earlier probes of the agency.

The filing lists several outstanding OIG requests, including records from the Department of Housing and Community Development. The requests were sent Aug. 18, and the city estimates the HCD requests involve hundreds of pages. The filing itself doesn’t say whether the requests are connected to the family at the center of the neglect case or the investigations Mayor Scott said he ordered.

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On Sept. 1, police found six children, ages one through nine, outside a home on East Monument Street. Officers reported some of the children were partially clothed, barefoot and near broken glass. Inside, police described no readily available food or water, no beds, little to no furniture, and dog feces on the floor.

A small division within the Department of Housing and Community Development had helped place the children and their mother, Teonna Brown, in the home.

“The family was receiving some assistance through crisis assistance from the housing department, which should have meant that it added an extra layer of oversight that clearly did not happen,” Mayor Scott previously said.

Before the children were found, Mayor Scott said he directed one investigation involving the Baltimore Police Department and another involving the OIG for administrative review.

“Nobody else, me, because we want to hold people accountable,” Scott said Tuesday.

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FOX45 News asked whether the OIG’s outstanding HCD records requests are related to those earlier investigations, or to the conditions in which the children were found.

Mayor Scott did not directly answer.

“We will not say anything that will get in the way of holding these people accountable for how those children were living,” Scott said.

The news of the separate investigations before the children were found was first reported by The Banner.

The dispute over those requests is part of a broader court fight between Scott’s administration and Inspector General Isabel Cumming over the watchdog’s authority to obtain city records through subpoenas.

The city’s Aug. 31 filings included a chart of OIG requests across several agencies. City attorneys characterized some as “wasteful requests” unrelated to legitimate investigations and said the total requests involve more than 2.1 million emails and more than one terabyte of data.

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The city has argued records given to the OIG remain subject to protections under the Maryland Public Information Act, or MPIA, including restrictions involving attorney-client communications, personnel records and other confidential information.

Cumming has argued the OIG’s subpoenas are not public-records requests and that applying MPIA restrictions would interfere with the office’s ability to investigate fraud, waste and abuse.

Judge Pamela White rejected a central part of the city’s MPIA argument in August, ruling that the OIG’s jurisdiction, including its subpoena authority, is not restricted by the MPIA. The city has appealed and is asking the Appellate Court of Maryland to pause White’s order while that appeal moves forward.

David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, said the outstanding requests underscore the stakes in the city’s continuing court battle with the watchdog.

“It’s disturbing to see that there are still these outstanding requests considering what’s happened recently, and it shows that the inspector general has to be independent, has to have access to information,” Williams said. “This isn’t only about money; this is about life and death.”

Scott said the city has completed site checks at a dozen other properties receiving assistance through the same program and will release those results as part of the broader investigation.

The children’s mother, Brown, is charged with six counts of neglect of a minor.

Follow Political Reporter Mikenzie Frost on X and Facebook. Send tips to mbfrost@sbgtv.com.