## Facts

- City police investigated Angelika Potter for operating a prostitution business and, pursuant to a search warrant, seized materials containing names and identifying information of alleged customers (the “black book”).
- Potter’s prosecution ended with a guilty plea and probation before judgment; as part of the plea agreement, the State agreed to return seized materials to Potter.
- Public controversy followed, including allegations that the case was resolved leniently to avoid revealing identities of public officials or prominent individuals listed in the seized materials.
- A newspaper and affiliated requesters sought access to the black-book materials and related records under the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA).
- The City’s records custodian denied inspection, relying on the MPIA exemption permitting nondisclosure of police investigative records.
- The circuit court largely ordered disclosure; the City appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the requested materials qualified as “records of investigations conducted by the police” under the MPIA investigative-records exemption.
2. Whether conclusion of the criminal matter (including probation before judgment) and the agreement to return the seized property eliminated or limited the City’s ability to invoke the investigative-records exemption.
3. Whether, given the MPIA’s presumption of access, the City’s decision to withhold was lawful in light of privacy and public-interest concerns tied to identifying alleged customers.

## Decision

- The appellate court reversed substantial portions of the disclosure order and remanded.
- The court held the black-book materials were police investigative records within the MPIA exemption.
- The court held the exemption could apply even after the prosecution ended.
- The court rejected the claim that the return-of-property term in the plea agreement negated the City’s statutory authority to withhold investigative records it possessed.
- The court upheld the City’s discretionary decision to deny inspection under the investigative-records exemption for the core investigative materials.

## Legal Principles

- The MPIA broadly favors public access to government records, but access is subject to specific statutory exemptions.
- The MPIA investigative-records exemption permits a custodian to deny inspection of police investigative records; the exemption is discretionary rather than mandatory.
- The investigative nature of police records, and the interests the exemption protects (including privacy of third parties), may persist after an investigation or prosecution concludes.
- An agreement to return seized property in a criminal disposition does not, by itself, require disclosure of investigative records under the MPIA; disclosure turns on custodianship and applicable exemptions at the time of the request.
- Judicial review focuses on whether the custodian’s withholding falls within the statutory scope of the exemption.

## Conclusion

The court held that prostitution-investigation materials identifying alleged customers were protected as police investigative records under the MPIA, and that the City could lawfully withhold them despite the case’s conclusion and the plea agreement’s return-of-property provision.


City of Frederick v. Randall Family, L.L.C., 841 A.2d 10 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 2004)