Catonsville developer pleads guilty to illegal 'straw contributions,' fined $53K

Catonsville developer Steve W. Whalen Jr. pled guilty and was fined $53,000 in Baltimore County Circuit Court Thursday in a plea agreement on five counts of election law violation, the Baltimore Sun reported.

Whalen, the owner of Whalen Properties, gave $7,500 to his personal trainer, an employee and a friend and asked them to write personal checks to the campaign of County Councilman Tom Quirk, a Catonsville Democrat, in 2011. Known as straw contributions, the illegal practice is often used to…