Aide to DC mayor to plead guilty in campaign probe

WASHINGTON – An assistant treasurer for the 2010 campaign of the District of Columbia mayor has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors on charges of making straw donations to another mayoral candidate and destroying evidence.

The charges against Thomas Gore represent the first criminal case to emerge from a more than yearlong probe of Mayor Vinenct Gray's 2010 campaign. The investigation and corruption cases involving other elected officials have clouded the Democratic mayor and district government since Gray took office.

Gore was charged Monday, and a plea hearing was scheduled for Tuesday. He faces four counts, including felony obstruction of justice.

The straw donations he's accused of making went to Sulaimon Brown, who accused Gray of promising him a job in exchange for negative comments about then-mayor Adrian Fenty.