Prosecutors: Delegate Tiffany Alston Used Campaign Funds For Wedding

WASHINGTON -- A Maryland state delegate, best known for sponsoring marriage-equality legislation to later vote against it, was charged with theft on Friday by state prosecutors who accuse the Prince George's County lawmaker of spending thousands in campaign funds on her wedding.

According to The Washington Post, Tiffany Alston has been "charged with one count of felony theft, one count of misdemeanor theft, one count of fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary and two election law violations." The Gazette reports that prosecutors accuse her of using "her campaign account to pay more than $3,500 in December for her wedding, $660 to an employee of her Upper Marlboro law firm in September 2010, and withdrew $1,250 in cash in December."

Alston, of Millersville, was the recipient of a college scholarship from the late Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin, who promised her entire Seat Pleasant Elementary School class that he'd pay for their college education if they graduated from high school. According to Washington City Paper, Alston would go on to study at the University of Maryland at College Park. Pollin also paid for Alston's law school at the University of the District of Columbia.

In a City Paper profile last year, Alston discussed Pollin's generosity as she was preparing to head to Annapolis to serve her first term in Maryland's General Assembly:

She’s putting together a staff and brainstorming about potential projects for her first term. For now, those goals are mainly moral, not political.

"The learning curve begins," Alston says. "But I want kids to know they can be anything they want to be, like I know. I want them to be able to dream like I could dream."

WTOP-FM reports that another Maryland official, former Capitol Heights Mayor Darrell Miller was indicted on Friday, too. Miller stands accused of spending $1,000 from his unsuccessful Prince George's County Council campaign for personal use.